Scars of a Martyr
by elizabet639
Summary: Naruto used his Kyuubi powers once too many. The seal has weakened and only one person can fix it. Will the seal be fixed before it's too late? No pairings yet. My first fanfic.
1. Dangerous Powers

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Trust me, if I did, it would be a lot different.

Note: The title will make a whole lot of sense later; right now it doesn't exactly.

This is my first fanfic, and I really started it out of boredom. I'm not sure if it'll go anywhere, but please read and review. It's basically what I think could have happened if a certain part of the story had gone a tad bit differently.

**"Demon Talking"**

"Normal talking"

_Thinking._

Chapter 1: Dangerous Powers

The chirping noises masked the small 'clink' the necklace made as it hit the floor. The owner of the necklace, a blonde, struggled to get up. He managed to get his upper body off of the ground before wincing. He could feel a very familiar burning sensation on his abdomen.

The blonde looked around, seeing his new captain backed against a rock with a sword in his shoulder. He looked over to the one that was holding the sword, a raven-haired missing nin that the blonde had been searching for. The blonde locked eyes with him; both pairs of eyes a dark red.

* * *

The blonde then found himself in a familiar sewer-like chamber. He looked up at the bars of a large cage.

"**Why don't you use my power, kit?" **The voice echoed around the dim chamber, sounding even more sinister than the blonde could remember.

"I'll use it," he answered. The demon smirked. "But not yet," the blonde said before the fox could say anything else. "I need to know something first."

If he had an eyebrow, the Kyuubi no Kitsune would have it raised. **"Oh? What is it?"** He asked, wondering what it was the brat could want.

"I… Well, I need to know if you could keep a promise," the blonde said, keeping his eyes locked on his reflection in the water.

The Kyuubi chuckled. **"That depends. What's this 'promise' you want me to make, kit?" **he asked.

The blonde was uncharacteristically quiet for a few long moments. "I need you to promise me that if I _do _use your power, I won't hurt Sai, Yamato, or Sakura. And, most importantly, that I won't kill Sasuke."

The Kyuubi chuckled. **"Well, Naruto," **the fox said, calling the blonde by his name for one of the first times, **"I can't promise you anything then."**

Naruto nodded. "Well then can you promise to try at least?" he asked, hopeful for the answer he wanted.

The Kyuubi sighed. **"Fine, I'll try," **he lied.

Naruto smiled and started to walk toward the cage that he was normally afraid of. He stopped short after a few steps. "Sasuke…"

"What's this?" The raven-haired nin asked, looking around for a short moment.

Naruto stared at his old friend. "How did you get here?!" he asked, startled.

Sasuke shrugged. "Who cares? All that matters is that I'm here."

Naruto clenched his fists. He had searched everywhere for Sasuke, and had just now found him, but Sasuke could find him even in his own mind? It wasn't fair!

Chakra bubbled in front of them both, until it resembled Kyuubi's head. **"Those eyes," **he examined,** "An Uchiha. Well, you've come far to be able to see me here. Those eyes of yours, they hold power similar to that of Uchiha Madara's. Maybe even stronger!"**

Sasuke glared at the Kyuubi, "Hmph," he mumbled, not sure of what to do. This Kyuubi was just a manifestation of chakra, so all he could do was dispel it. He eyes traveled to Naruto. He _could_, however, try to kill Naruto here. Wherever 'here' was.

Naruto gritted his teeth, memories surfacing in his mind, while he looked at Sasuke.

Now Kyuubi was addressing Naruto. **"You want to crush him! Use my power and do it!"**

Sasuke glared at the Kyuubi. "So this is where you get that weird power from. Right, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. This is where my power comes from." Naruto looked back at the Kyuubi. "Why? Why should I use your power? Yamato-taichou… he said that if I used your power, the seal would weaken and that I would hurt Sakura-chan and everyone I care about."

Kyuubi laughed. **"My power will make you stronger! Strong enough to take down this Uchiha."**

Sasuke had had enough from the fox. He gripped its nose and forced the chakra to dispel. It didn't end up helping him much, though, since the chakra just went and gathered around Naruto.

"Oi! Kyuubi! I said I didn't want to use it!" Naruto yelled, looking toward the cage.

The Kyuubi chuckled. **"It's never stopped me before, has it?"**

Naruto glared at the bars, then nodded. If he was quick enough, it might work out.

He was willing to do anything to bring Sasuke back.

* * *

Outside of Naruto's mind, nothing had happened for a few moments and a pink-haired kunoichi was starting to worry.

_Neither of them has moved for the past few minutes… What's going on? _She asked herself, not thinking that she could have done something to help the situation already.

Both of the shinobi blinked and went into action. Sasuke pulled his sword out of Yamato's shoulder and faced Naruto, who now had the demonic chakra surrounding him.

"Sasuke! I'm going to bring you back to the village, no matter what!" he yelled, baring his newly acquired fangs.

Sasuke shook his head. "So you've worked this hard to bring me back. Too bad it won't even work! I should have killed you back then," he said, causing Naruto's anger to reach an even higher level, which brought about another tail of demonic chakra. "Then at least you wouldn't have seemed so pathetic." He spit out the word, almost laughing at Naruto.

Naruto now had three tails waving around in the air behind him. He knew that the next tail would come soon, so he hoped that the Kyuubi would stay true to what he had said.

Sakura stared at her old teammates. _Why? Why are they fighting like this? _She asked herself in her mind, not moving.

Sasuke had activated the cursed seal, not enough to reach the second stage, but enough to give him a huge chakra boost.

Sakura finally snapped out of her trance. "Naruto! You don't have to do this! I'll help bring Sasuke back!"

"No! This _is _the only way to bring him back!" Naruto yelled in response.

"Oi, Naruto… remember the talk we had. You have your own power, you don't need to rely on the Kyuubi's," Yamato said, trying to calm Naruto down. _Jiraiya never said anything about Naruto using the Kyuubi's power to this extent more than once a day. I can tell it won't have any good side effects._

Naruto could feel his skin burning. Behind him, chakra was starting to bubble up as the fourth tail appeared. Sasuke remembered that the last time he had fought Naruto; he had used the same power, but only with one tail behind him. He didn't understand the connection exactly, but he _did_ understand that Naruto was getting more powerful with the creation of more tails behind him.

Sasuke's figure had disappeared for a moment, but then he reappeared behind Naruto. Without saying a word, he plunged his uncharged katana towards Naruto's heart.

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock when the blade stopped dead. Then he remembered yet another part of his last fight with Naruto; that red chakra protected him from attacks. Sasuke gritted his teeth and jumped away to prevent being hit.

A black orb had now surrounded Naruto from his burning skin and drops of his blood. After a few minutes, the orb disappeared and only Sasuke was surprised when he saw a miniature Kyuubi; everyone else there had already seen it.

Sasuke could feel how powerful Naruto was now, so he knew that he would have to kill Naruto on the spot before he was injured. He quickly charged a Chidori through his katana, so now it would be able to cut through anything.


	2. Burning Injuries and Sai's Nap

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in anyway. I'll let you know when I do.

_Thinking_

"Normal talking"

Be warned, both Naruto and Sasuke get beat up. Just so you know.

To get you back into what's happening, I'll put a little flashback from the story first.

* * *

_Flashback:_

_A black orb had now surrounded Naruto from his burning skin and drops of his blood. After a few minutes, the orb disappeared and only Sasuke was surprised when he saw a miniature Kyuubi with four tails; everyone else there had already seen it._

_Sasuke could feel how powerful Naruto was now, so he knew that he would have to kill Naruto on the spot before he was injured. He quickly charged a Chidori through his katana, so now it would be able to cut through anything._

* * *

Chapter 2: Burning Injuries and Sai's Nap 

He recreated the exact move from before; pulling a disappearing act until he made it behind Naruto. Yet again, he plunged his katana towards Naruto's heart. Since the katana was now charged, though, it cut through the Demon Fox's Cloak.

Much to everyone's surprise, though, Naruto had moved slightly so that Sasuke's katana cut just a few inches to the right of his heart. Sasuke smirked. Even if he hadn't hit Naruto's heart, he would bleed to death anyway. Sasuke didn't care how he died, as long as the nuisance was gone from the mortal world.

The chakra surrounding Naruto did not act like a normal human body would after being stabbed so close to the heart. In fact, it reacted in the exact opposite way. The chakra forced Naruto's body to turn sharply, forcing Sasuke to stand only a few inches from him. Sakura gasped when she saw that the katana had sliced through Naruto and was sticking out from his front, dripping his blood methodically onto the ground in front of him.

A clawed hand of chakra ran itself across Sasuke's torso, ripping long gashes into his flesh. The poisonous chakra started working immediately. Sasuke felt like his body was on fire; and Naruto had already attacked him a few more times. Sasuke's body was reacting slowly, but he managed to jump away from Naruto and charge a full-powered Chidori in his hand.

He ran up to Naruto and felt his hand sink into and through Naruto's already bleeding flesh. Sasuke gritted his teeth against the pain that the new burns he had along his arm caused him. When he looked at where he had hit Naruto, he was even angrier than before. Yet again, Naruto had hit Sasuke's hand out of the way of his heart, the same way he did two and a half years ago.

Sasuke ripped his arm away and jumped back. He decided not to attack anymore. Naruto, stuck inside of that chakra, was dying; there was no stopping that. But he could feel his own body weakening; the burning he had felt earlier was even more so than before.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled, snapping out of her trance. They were both nearly dead, and she doubted that she would be able to heal them both.

Yamato decided that now was the time to intervene. He jumped in front of Naruto and slapped his hand onto his chest, surprised when he didn't feel the necklace. He was just a copy of the Shodai, so he knew he would be able to somewhat suppress the chakra. Not completely, but probably enough. He jumped back while several pillars of wood rose up.

"Sakura," he yelled, "I need you to go find Naruto's necklace! When you do that, come back here immediately. Hurry!" Sakura nodded and jumped off to go find it.

Sasuke managed to stand up; he needed to finish the job, he needed to kill Naruto! However, as soon as he managed to stand up, the burning pain he felt was much more severe, and it made him fall to his knee. _Dammit! I can't stay this weak! _he yelled at himself, gritting his teeth. He fell forward, unable to support his own weight. The wounds that Naruto had given him felt like they were burning a hole deeper into his flesh. He yelled in pain, distracting Sakura from what she was doing for a minute. _Sasuke-kun…_she thought, searching even harder.

Sakura had searched everywhere she could have at least once. _I can't even find a stupid necklace! I am just a nuisance…_

Yamato had forced back nearly half of the demonic chakra. However, now Naruto was yelling in pain too. The chakra was still burning him and his inner Kyuubi chakra was probably now too weak—too busy trying to fix his wounds from the Demon Fox's Cloak—to try and fix fatal wounds that Sasuke had given him.

Sakura continued to search and couldn't help but wonder where Sai had disappeared to.

* * *

Sai had woken up several minutes before he heard a yell and felt a massive surge of chakra, so he decided to stay where he was and not get involved. Now that he was making decisions for himself, he thought it was a good first decision.

He stood up and looked around, seeing something that caught his attention. He walked over to the small glint he had seen and picked the object up. He turned it around in his hand. _Hm. Such a pretty necklace. Maybe I can give it to Sakura-chan like the book said. 'Presents can help build a friendship,' _he remembered. _Sounds like a good idea. _He thought, forcing a smile. "Although, I wonder who it belongs to," he mumbled to himself.

He stuck the blue-green necklace into his pack and decided to hide for a while; it was a much better idea than getting involved in the fight. He cloaked his chakra and hid behind a small outcropping of rocks.

He leaned back against a rock, not realizing how tired he really was until his back hit the cool rocks. He closed his eyes and sighed slightly. No harm in taking a quick nap, right?

* * *

Sakura looked around quickly. She still hadn't found the necklace and she knew she had to hurry. Both of her old teammates were yelling in pain, and she knew how bad of a condition they were in. She saw an unfamiliar outcropping of rocks, so she decided to look there. Better safe than sorry.

"Sai?!" she asked, surprised to see the boy behind the rocks, napping. Quickly, though, her surprise turned into anger.

WHACK! Sai sat straight up, rubbing his head. "Ow," he said simply. "Oh," he said, seeing Sakura, "what's the problem, Sakura-chan?" he asked, standing up.

Sakura glared at him. "The problem is that you're sleeping at a time like this!" she yelled at him. "Now, be useful and help me find Naruto's necklace. Yamato-taichou needs it for some reason." Sai nodded; sure he didn't want to ever get on Sakura's bad side again.

"Does it look like this?" he asked, fishing around in his pack for a minute before showing the necklace he had found to Sakura.

Sakura's eyes lit up and she grabbed the necklace from his hand without even saying a quick thanks. She jumped off and left a puzzled Sai standing there. He sighed and shrugged. _Might as well continue that nap, _he decided.

* * *

Note: alright guys, I know this chapter's pretty short, but quite a few things happened, so yeah. Also, sorry for the beating up of Naruto and such, but it's how I write. Don't worry, it'll probably only happen a few more times.

I know, I'm not very good at writing fight scenes.

I was pretty surprised at the turnout of the first chapter, so I hope this one will have an even better turnout. So please read and review!


	3. The Aftermath

I do not own Naruto. Wish I did, but I don't.

"Talking"

_Thinking_

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3:

Yamato was at a standstill. More than half of the Demon Fox's Cloak still covered Naruto, and it refused to go back anymore. He needed the Shodai's necklace on Naruto for the jutsu to work. A drip of sweat found its way down the side of his face, and he could feel the strain his chakra use was causing. His aching arms and loss of energy were only two problems he was noticing. Over the sound of blood pounding in his ears he could hear what he could recognize as footsteps. He turned his head slightly to see who it could be.

"Yamato-taichou!" the familiar voice of a pink haired kunoichi yelled. "I found the necklace," she reported holding it out by the broken string. "What should I do now?"

"Go and… put it on Naruto's neck," Yamato said while having trouble talking and focusing on his chakra control.

Sakura quickly tied a knot to keep the necklace together. "B-but, taichou… you told me not to get near Naruto right now," she said, looking at him with fear in her eyes.

Yamato didn't have the energy for a long explanation. "Just do it! He shouldn't hurt you with this chakra fighting against mine like this and Naruto being so hurt."

Sakura nodded and jumped up behind Naruto. After a few moments of struggling, she had managed to get the necklace on his neck, with only a few scratches herself. She knew what the chakra would do to her, so she quickly healed the few wounds she had gotten to prevent as much damage as she could.

"Sakura, go and heal Sasuke. I'd rather not have to bring him back to the village dead," he said, looking over at her while relaxing a bit since it wouldn't be as hard to suppress the demonic chakra.

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Hai," she said, running over to Sasuke. Once she got to him she knelt down next to her former teammate and stared at his wounds. They were worse than she thought they were. She took a deep, calming breath and placed her hands on his wounds although she quickly took them off when he winced. "Don't worry, Sasuke-kun. I'll heal you and Naruto and then we'll all go back home together," she said, smiling and placing her hands back onto his wounds, this time more gentle than before.

* * *

Yamato picked Naruto up and mumbled to himself. "I'll be feeling that strain for a while," he admitted, walking over to where Sakura was. "Oi, Sakura, make sure to heal him well. The wounds from just the Kyuubi's chakra cloak are more than enough to get him near death. The wounds inflicted by Sasuke have him nearly dead." Sakura nodded and Yamato put Naruto down.

Sakura had just finished healing Sasuke enough that she knew he would live. She still had to heal Naruto, which she knew would turn out to be a much harder task than healing Sasuke had been. The pink-haired medical Nin checked Sasuke's vitals again and once she confirmed he was stable she went over to Naruto.

She sat down next to the blonde and took a glance at the wounds he had received. When she saw his wounds, she gasped; they were worse than she could have imagined. She could see straight through where Sasuke had used Chidori through his chest. She winced for him and placed her hands on his chest. Naruto had a much more violent reaction than Sasuke had. He winced and yelped in pain. Sakura quickly took her hands off the injury.

"Sakura-chan…" he managed to say before coughing.

"Naruto! You'll be okay. Please, don't talk. You're not going to help your injuries," she said, placing her hands back onto her patient. She closed her eyes and focused on healing him, trying to ignore how he tensed whenever she moved her hands.

"That… hurts…" he mumbled, sending pain throughout his body from talking.

"Naruto, I already told you not to talk. Don't make me knock you out just so I can heal you," she threatened, healing the sword wounds near his heart first. _He's lost a lot of blood. Right now, he's lucky to even be alive._

"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked, trying to get his mind off of the pain that was filling every fiber of his being.

"Naruto, don't talk. Just try to relax, please," Sakura said, wondering how he didn't know that Sasuke was only a few feet to his left.

Naruto forced a smile, cracking open an eye to see a blob of pink in his extremely blurry vision. "We can finally bring him back home."

Sakura nodded. She was nearly finished healing the wound near his heart. Next she would concentrate on the wound that had impaled his right lung, which was why she didn't want Naruto to talk.

"I didn't kill him or hurt you, did I?" he asked, refusing to shut up.

Sakura couldn't help but get mad at him. "Naruto. Shut up. Ask him yourself when you're healed. But while I'm healing you, I don't want you to talk," she said sternly.

"Fine," Naruto mumbled, letting exhaustion take a hold of him. He closed his open eye and quickly fell asleep.

Sakura was exhausted; she had run out of chakra halfway through healing Naruto. She checked his vitals and decided that he would live through the night, and then she slowly got to her feet.

Yamato checked up on Sakura and could see from her struggles to just stand up that she was more exhausted than he was. "Sakura, go ahead and get some sleep. I'll take the first watch," he said in sympathy. He paused and noticed her looking at Sasuke. "Don't worry," he added, "I'll keep an eye on him." Sakura nodded and rummaged through her pack for a minute and gave him a container of pills. Yamato raised an eyebrow in question. "What're these for?"

"Have him swallow one of these every few hours. It'll keep him asleep so he shouldn't be any trouble," she said, handing over the container. "I've already gave him one approximately an hour ago. Try to give it to him between an hour and two hours from now." Yamato nodded. He thought Sakura was done, so he turned away to go check on something, but she had yet to finish talking. "Now, how to give him the pills," she said before going into a detailed explanation of how to make an unconscious person swallow a pill.

After she made sure Yamato understood how to give Sasuke the medicine, she walked over to the small fire Sai had made once he woke up. She chatted with him for a while, along with telling him how to give Sasuke the medicine, but then it was Sai's turn to take watch. Sakura sighed, realizing just how tired she was. She looked up and saw how late it had gotten; the healing sessions seemed to be getting longer and longer with her teammates. _They can't help but get themselves into too much trouble, _she thought, setting up a makeshift bed close enough to feel the warmth from the campfire.

Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

* * *

Naruto blinked his eyes open, surprised by how much pain he felt just by breathing. He winced and realized he was breathing pretty hard and in short gasps. _What happened? _The blonde asked himself, wanting to sit up and look around. As soon as he tried, though, he was forced back down by a severe wave of pain. He pouted. He hated not being able to do anything.

He turned his head when he heard familiar footsteps. _I can't believe I know her enough to recognize her by her footsteps, _he thought, seeing only a pink blur walking toward him. _My vision still sucks, _he thought, blinking quite a few more times.

"Naruto? You're awake?" Sakura asked, kneeling down next to him.

Naruto nodded and winced. "Yeah, Sakura-chan. I'm awake. But, where's Sasuke?" he asked, not caring that talking caused him an immense amount of pain.

Sakura sighed. "Naruto, I'll finish his treatment right after you. I mean, you are in much worse shape. It looks like your Inner Kyuubi chakra still isn't responding well," she added.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Nani? What are you talking about?"

Sakura looked at him. "You would probably be healed by now if that chakra was working like usual," she said, placing her hands on his stomach, "but it's not, so I have to heal you. Really, did you have to go that far? Look at your injuries! It'll take longer than usual to heal you, baka," she added.

Naruto smiled. "But I had to. I mean, we have Sasuke now and we can go to Konoha with him!"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, we can. Now stop talking so much. You're still very injured and you're just tearing up whatever I did to heal those holes in your chest."

Naruto completely ignored her and continued to ramble on and on about something. "Naruto, please," she begged him again, "stop talking. I'm telling you, you're just making your injuries worse; it's pointless for me to heal you."

Naruto laughed again. "Geez, I already said 'I'm sorry' so many times, Sak-" he was cut off by a cough.

Sakura shook her head. "I told you to stop," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. Naruto nodded and then coughed again. Sakura sighed and focused on his lungs. _What happened to him? Just overnight his body has gotten into a worse condition than after I healed him! _

Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow and sighed. It had taken longer than she thought it would have to heal the annoying orange bundle of energy.

The blonde blinked a few times, his vision still much more blurry than he would have liked it, and pain still coursing through his body. "Sakura-chan, you're sure I'm healed?" he asked, wondering why it didn't feel like it.

Sakura nodded, a little annoyed. "I've already checked over all of your vitals and everything at least a dozen times. Why do you keep asking me?"

Naruto, acting as his usual self, didn't want her to worry about him too much. "I just wanted to make sure so I'm in peak physical condition!" he said, laughing a little.

Sakura gave him an unsure look. Then she looked over him to see a wooden cage. "Well, I need to go finish Sasuke's treatment," she told him, standing up.

Naruto nodded and watched her walk away. He flashed his stupid grin. _We're finally gonna bring him home! _He thought, excited.

Sakura walked up to the wooden cage, surprised to see several wooden bunshin surrounding it. She walked up to one of the 'Yamatos'. She couldn't tell if it was the real one, but it wouldn't hurt to ask it a few questions. "Did you make sure to give Sasuke that medicine?"

The Yamato looked at her and nodded. "One every two or three hours, just like you said. He took them and has yet to be a problem," the Yamato reported.

After Sakura had gotten enough information from the Yamato, she was let into the cage to finish his treatment. He had been drugged to sleep, or unconsciousness, whichever you prefer, for at least another day. Sakura put his hands on his chest and concentrated.

Yamato continually checked up on Sakura to make sure nothing was going wrong with the treatment or Sasuke's containment, which it never did. Sasuke stayed asleep and the cursed seal didn't activate, so not much else could go wrong, he believed.

* * *

Naruto sighed and rolled over to his side, trying to get up. He was tired of lying there on the ground; it just wasn't fun. He remembered that Sakura had already told him not to get up and to just rest, but he was a bundle of energy, so the blonde genin couldn't just lie around.

He slowly worked his way into a sitting position, and he looked around. His fight with Sasuke hadn't been nearly as destructive as his fight with Orochimaru, so the damage wasn't as bad to the landscape. However, Orochimaru never even got a hit in, but Sasuke had managed to hit Naruto in nearly vital spots two times, so the damage done to his body was worse. Naruto's stomach felt a little hot, so he lifted his shirt up and put a hand on it, but he wasn't surprised when it felt hot to the touch. He looked around for a moment and decided he wanted to find Sai. He tried to stand up again, but he landed on his butt. "Ow," he muttered, trying again.

He still tried to stand up several more times and each time he managed to stay up a little while longer before falling, usually in some awkward position.

Eventually he managed to stay standing up. He took a few breaths and looked around again. He didn't really know where to go, so he just started walking. After a few minutes of struggling to walk, he ended up finding Sai sketching near the remains of the campfire from the night before. Sai looked up at him. "Shouldn't you be resting?" he asked, returning his attention to the sketch.

Naruto shrugged and grinned. "Probably, but what Sakura-chan doesn't know won't hurt her," he said, laughing a little.

Sai shook his head. "No, but it'll probably hurt you."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, a dumb look plastered onto his face.

"Nothing," Sai replied, smiling a tad bit. Naruto wasn't sure if it was fake or real.

Naruto shrugged and sat down in as much as a normal manner as he could, but his muscles were screaming in pain, so he ended up falling flat onto his butt again. "Ow…" he mumbled, positioning himself into a better sitting position. Now his butt was probably bruised and he was already in enough pain to last a lifetime.

Sakura sighed and forced Sasuke to swallow another pill. He was healed now, so she decided to go and check up on Naruto; he didn't seem like he was feeling great when she left him to treat Sasuke.

She got up and quickly walked back to where Naruto had been lying only an hour or two hours ago, surprised and angry when she saw he wasn't there. She clenched her fists and walked off to find Sai; he might know where Naruto had disappeared to. _I told him to rest! I don't even know what exactly is wrong with him! Geez, if he gets hurt, I'm not healing him. Maybe that'll teach him a lesson, _she rambled in her head. By the time she reached where she had slept, she was about to burst with anger.

"-all it ever was was Sasuke-kun this, Sasuke-kun that, out of every girl," she heard an all too familiar voice complain.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She was angry and annoyed at this point, so she acted exactly like her teacher would have and took her anger out on the thing nearest to her, which just happened to be a blonde-haired boy wearing an orange and black jumpsuit.

WHAM! Naruto was surprised—and pained—to find himself face down in the ground. "Ow… Sakura-chan… that hurt…" he said, getting up and rubbing the back of his injured head. He turned around and looked at her. "What was that for?" he asked in a childish tone.

_At least he's back to normal, _Sakura thought. But she wasn't that nice to Naruto. "You need to rest! You can't just keep running off or your injuries will just reappear, like always! You may look all nice and better and you may even feel all healed, but Uzumaki Naruto, you are anything BUT healed!" she ranted, scaring both Sai and Naruto.

Naruto quickly said what needed to be said so he wouldn't be hit again. "I-I'm really, really, sorry, Sakura-chan. I promise I'll rest until you say I can get up," he begged while Sai sat there and chuckled.

'_Someone that you can express your feelings openly with is a friend,' _the palest boy remembered the excerpt from one of the latest friendship books he had read to be prepared for this mission. _So these two must be really good friends. They express every feeling so openly, especially Naruto-kun._

Sakura ranted for a few more minutes while Naruto apologized over and over again and Sai continued to sketch.

Suddenly, Sai stopped sketching and looked up to see two green blurs come jumping over. He blinked a few times and resumed sketching.

The two green 'blobs' had distinct bowl cuts and one looked like a miniature version of the other. They gave each other thumbs-ups for a few moments before a girl with two balls of hair on her head and a huge scroll on her back, along with a boy with long, dark hair and white eyes, appeared. "Lee, Gai, you were supposed to wait for us before we got here," the girl said to the two green men. They stopped giving each other thumbs-ups long enough to reply. Sakura stopped ranting long enough to shake her head at the team that had arrived. Naruto looked up and smiled, but the smile disappeared when Sakura started ranting again.

The shorter one talked first. "But Tenten! Gai and I were feeling youthful! We had to go on ahead!" The taller one stood in the background nodding his head dramatically.

The boy with long hair shook his head. "When will you two give up on this 'youthful' stuff?" he asked.

Tenten sighed. "I don't think they ever will, Neji-san," she admitted, watching the two go back to their own dramatic 'youthful' moment.

Sakura continued to rant, Naruto continued apologizing, and Sai blinked. Sai turned to look at Naruto. "What's their problem?" he asked, pointing to the team.

Sakura stopped ranting, but scolded Naruto once more and told him not to do anything like that again. Naruto turned his attention to Sai and shook his head. "I don't know. That's just how they are." Sai gave Naruto what he assumed was a confused look. "Just don't bother with it," Naruto said. Sai shrugged and continued to sketch. Only Naruto was really noticed by the team.

"Naruto-kun! We were sent by the Godaime Hokage to come and help you. She said you've been gone too long for the mission she assigned you," the smaller green blob said.

Naruto looked at him. "Well that's because we followed Orochimaru and Kabuto here to capture Sasuke!" he said excitedly.

Lee was now more excited than he had been before. "You guys really caught Sasuke?!" he asked, unable to believe what luck they had. "But you don't look injured," he said, looking at the large rips and holes in Naruto's jumpsuit.

Naruto shook his head. "Not anymore, Sakura-chan healed me! I'm all better!" he lied, feeling pain whenever he moved or talked, so he was really just making it worse for himself.

Lee quickly gave Sakura a thumbs-up. "Good job, Sakura-chan!" he said, flashing a grin. Before he knew it, he had received a punch in the gut from Sakura.

"Don't talk to me like it was my job. I did it so he wouldn't die," she explained, her teeth clenched.

"Sorry… Sakura-chan…" Lee said, forcing the words out.

* * *

I know, I know. Not that great of a chapter, but it is the longest. 

Hope you got a chuckle from that last part. This story is now has a beta! It's amazing I know. So I hope this chapter has satisfied those of you that wanted a longer chapter or a better written one. If not, I'll try harder. Thanks to everyone that's read the story, especially those that have reviewed, favorited, and/or added this to your story alerts. It makes me happy to know my story is quite successful for my first one. Also, if you do review, feel free to call me anything you want. I don't really mind. Thankies!

Elizabet639


	4. Relaxed Planning

I do not own Naruto or anything related. Although I truly wish I did.

I decided to write more of a laid back chapter, with little violence and a few funny scenes. Don't worry, I predict another fight soon.

"Talking"

_Thinking_

Read and Review please!

Sorry in advance for any grammar mistakes that I (hopefully didn't) make.

* * *

Chapter 4: Relaxed Planning

Sai sat and watched unmoving as the two teams in front of him conversed even more. Naruto and Lee were talking enthusiastically about something related to 'youthfulness' and Sasuke. Neji and Tenten were off to the side talking in whispers so Sai couldn't tell what they were really saying until Sakura showed up and immediately dove into their conversation. Finally, looking over a small piece of paper were Yamato and Gai, who were busy talking about their next plan of action.

Yamato nodded. "Of course Orochimaru and Kabuto will come to retrieve Sasuke. I doubt that man would ever leave his 'container' in someone else's hands," he said while Gai nodded enthusiastically. "We'll also need someone to go back to Konoha to let Tsunade know the situation is under control so she won't need to send any more backup teams after us," Yamato continued while Gai also continued enthusiastically doing just about everything. Yamato sighed loudly. _How Kakashi-sama puts up with this man I'll never know, _he thought. "I suggest someone fast—most likely from your team—go ahead and scout to Konoha. However, we need as many strong people here as we can keep. Orochimaru and Kabuto are not to be taken lightly. Who do you suggest?" he asked, looking over at Gai. Gai responded immediately.

"Why Lee or myself of course! Nobody can run faster or further than myself or Lee! If anyone should run to Konoha, it should be Le—" Sai tuned out the rest of Gai's noble speech about himself and his student and instead turned his attention back to the sketchbook that was sitting in his lap. He couldn't talk himself into continuing the sketch, so he returned the book to his pack and turned his attention to Neji, Tenten, and Sakura. He could barely hear what they were talking about, but he could make out a few words.

"R-really…. I don't…." Tenten stuttered. Since her back was turned to Sai, he couldn't tell if there was more to her sentence or if that was all she had said.

"Co... ent... ha... ve... ast... me!" Sakura protested, even though Sai knew that wasn't all of her sentence. Neji stood there and encouraged Sakura while Tenten waved her hands in front of her to try and dismiss what they were saying. Sai deemed it a boring conversation and turned his attention to Naruto and Lee.

"…so youthful!" Lee exclaimed, striking a 'nice-guy' pose. Naruto smiled and laughed lightly.

"Imagine everyone's faces," Naruto roused, stroking his chin, "it'll be amazing!" Lee shot another thumbs-up and Sai decided he wouldn't be able to stand the conversation for much longer, but he continued to eavesdrop all the same.

"Naruto-kun, it is a most youthful idea!" Lee exclaimed. "But what about Godaime-sama?"

Naruto waved his hand to dismiss the thought. "Don't worry about baa-chan, I'll take care of her," he said with a certain glean in his eye. Sai concluded that Naruto wanted to pull a prank that would get him in trouble, and he wanted to include Lee in the process. Sai turned his attention back to Yamato and Gai, since he noticed that Gai had finally finished his rant.

"Right," Yamato said, pretending he had been listening the entire time, "so either Lee or yourself will go ahead to Konoha while we stay here and prepare to leave. We'll arrive approximately half a day after the scout reports at Konoha," he explained. Sai kept mental notes just in case he would need the information. "Meanwhile, while our teams are getting ready to leave, we'll rotate between guarding the cage Sasuke's in and getting prepared to leave. I imagine it'll take a few hours at least to get Sasuke and everyone else ready to leave, and then we'll have to travel slowly because of Sasuke and Naruto. I doubt Sakura will let him go very far without a medical treatment," he said, getting a very odd reaction from Gai.

"Hm…" Gai mused before yet again exploding into a 'youthful rant', even if this one was by far a lot less lengthy. "That's right! Naruto's youthfulness must be protected!" Meanwhile, Sai was busy in his own thoughts. _What in the world does he mean by 'Sakura won't let him go very far without a medical treatment'? _he wondered. _He can't be in that bad of a condition, _he thought, looking over at the orange clad ninja. _He's acting normally, so what in the world could be wrong with him? _Sai's thoughts wandered until his attention was brought back to Yamato and Gai's conversation at the mention of his name. "—Sai could use some of that wonderful youthfulness!" Gai yelled triumphantly while pointing directly at him. This, of course, brought everyone's attention to the trio sitting down near the remains of the campfire from the night before. Sai blinked and looked at Gai a little confused. Lee had flames burning in his eyes and yelled something that resembled, "Gai-sensei! You're so youthful!" but Sai couldn't really make it out, so he just left it alone. After a few more moments of silence, Sai decided to say something.

"What does that statement mean?" he asked plainly, getting a very fast and emotional reaction from both Lee and Gai. A sudden sunset on the beach appeared behind them and tears flowed from both of their eyes. To say the least, Sai was surprised. _Are they using genjutsu? _He asked himself while the duo went on a rant about youthfulness.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

The exchange lasted for several more minutes before Yamato cleared his throat loudly. "Lee, Gai," he said drawing their attention, "can we maybe return to making plans for later?" he asked. Gai nodded his head and looked toward his student.

"Lee, I'm afraid we were too youthful! We must learn to be less youthful when it is needed and more youthful when it is needed!" He said while striking a pose. Lee followed suit with a quick emotional "Gai-sensei!" thrown in for effect. After another moment Lee and Gai separated and everyone—mostly—returned to normal. Sai still wondered what the whole 'youthfulness' thing was about, but he was now a bit afraid to ask.

Sai continued to eavesdrop into everyone's conversation, but nothing exciting happened, although he had begun to wonder what it was that Sakura and Neji were bugging Tenten about and what the prank was Naruto was scheming, so he just sketched until Yamato and Gai had finally come up with a plan. Sai saw no problem with the plan, except for the fact that the group would have to stop every few hours, since he didn't understand why that would be. "Yamato-taichou," he interrupted, "why would we have to stop every few hours? Everyone is in good condition and wouldn't it be better to hurry to get Sasuke back to Konoha?"

Yamato looked up at Sai. "Unfortunately, yes, we do need to hurry to get Sasuke back to Konoha. However, not everyone is in a good condition. We'll need to stop every so often so Sakura can quickly heal the only two injured people, Naruto and Sasuke," he explained. At that, everyone looked over at Naruto who just shrugged. "I feel fine, really!" he lied in defense several times before they left him alone.

The plan was simple: Gai would travel to Konoha to inform the Godaime Hokage that Team Kakashi and Team Gai were on their way back. Meanwhile, both of the teams would quickly prepare for travel and the leave, arriving approximately half a day after Gai. If they were lucky and moved fast enough, it could be much sooner. Also, while preparing to leave, they would have to rotate who would prepare to leave and who would guard Sasuke. Yamato concluded that at least four people and a few of his wooden bunshin would have to guard Sasuke at one time. He knew that the snake pedophile wouldn't want to leave his precious container with the Konoha ninja.

Every ninja nodded and reported that they understood. Gai quickly gathered his things, had an emotional moment with Lee and then left for Konoha. Sai blinked again. What was it with those two and emotional moments? He doubted he would ever know. He looked around and saw that Neji, Tenten, and Lee were already headed towards Sasuke's cage while Naruto and Sakura walked off to a random location behind some rocks. Sai raised a quick eyebrow, but lost his interest when Yamato called his name. "Sai, I need you to go and protect the cage with those three. Naruto and Sakura will join you after they're prepared to leave," he added while Sai walked away. Sai followed his instructions but let his mind wander while doing so.

* * *

"Sakura-chaaaaaan," Naruto whined, "how much longer do I have to lay here?" he asked fidgeting a bit. Sakura sighed while trying to keep her hands steady.

"I already told you that you'd have to wait until I was done healing you," she said, about ready to knock him out just to heal him. Naruto had not stopped fidgeting since she had started his treatment, still surprised how he was able to stand up and act normal with the injuries that were building up internally. She decided she would have to ask Yamato about it. While examining him before treating him, Sakura had noticed that most of the injuries were located around his abdomen and, being a professional doctor, she had asked to take a look before just barging into his privacy. Naruto simply said an uncharacteristic no and left it at that. However, now Sakura was curious. _What could it be that's making these injuries so horrible? _she wondered to herself. She would have to knock him out just to look. She sighed and decided to get some help from Yamato. "Yamato-taichou!" she yelled loudly. Naruto gripped his ears tightly.

"Geez, Sakura-chan, you're right next to me! Couldn't you warn me before you yell like that?" he asked innocently. He let go of his ears since it really had just been an act. Truthfully, his ears had already been ringing for quite a while, but the yelling really didn't help. Naruto did, however, manage to hear footsteps and he turned his head to see Yamato standing over him.

"What is it, Sakura?" he asked looking down at Naruto before kneeling down to the ground on the other side of Naruto.

Sakura quickly relayed the information she had gathered to Yamato. It mostly consisted of what his internal injuries were and how most of them were centered on and around his abdomen. Yamato nodded and made mental notes. Sakura knew that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed inside of Naruto, but she didn't know that the seal was on his abdomen. Still, Yamato wasn't sure if he should tell Sakura. It was Naruto's decision, so he left it alone. "I guess you'll just have to keep healing him until we get to Konoha," he admitted. "Maybe Godaime-sama will know what's happening," he informed her. Sakura nodded and pulled her hands reluctantly away from Naruto. When she did, he sat up quickly, ignoring the pain in his abdomen.

"Naruto, you really shouldn't push yourself," she said. He flashed his normal idiotic grin to reassure her.

"I'll be fine, Sakura-chan," he said while getting up. He felt like he might fall over, but he managed to keep his balance so that Sakura or Yamato would have no reason to worry about his health. He looked around quickly and concluded he had nothing else to get. "I guess I'll let one of Gai's team know they can get prepared to leave," he said before walking away at a somewhat slow rate. Sakura gave him an odd look as Yamato stood up. He turned and walked away too, except he didn't bother to explain why.

Sakura watched as Naruto walked up to Neji, who was guarding one side of the cage alone. She tried to read their lips as they talked, but to no avail. Instead, she started to gather her medical supplies so she could be prepared to leave whenever it was needed.

* * *

"Neji!" the prodigy turned his head at the sound of his name. He knew who it was of course. He was sure nobody could ever mistake that voice. He prepared himself to be annoyed. He just stared as the hyperactive ninja walked up to him. "Can I ask you something?" he asked. Neji gave him an odd look and nodded. He wasn't in the mood to talk. "Well, I think there's something wrong with my chakra," he explained, "so I wanted you to check it out!"

"Naruto, that's not exactly a question," Neji pointed out. Naruto shrugged it off quickly and waited for an answer. Neji sighed loudly and gave him a quick sure before activating the kekkei genkai that he was partly known for. Neji wasn't too surprised at the color of the chakra, an orange-red color, since he had seen it during the Chuunin exams three years prior. Neji could remember that the chakra had also pushed itself through Naruto's chakra system, but it seemed more violent than he could remember.

"Nee, Neji?" Naruto asked trying to get Neji's attention. Neji just ignored him and continued his observation. The chakra was pushing through his chakra system so that it was literally tearing it apart. Not only that, but it was also effectively destroying everything connected to the chakra system. Neji noted that the worst damage was located near or on his abdomen, which seemed to be the source of the red chakra. The process wasn't very fast, but Neji could tell that if it was left alone it could destroy Naruto's vital organs. "Hm," Neji was deep in thought and didn't notice Naruto was yelling at him until he noticed Naruto's arms flailing. "What is it Naruto?" he asked deactivating his Byakugan.

"You kinda just stared into space for a while. So," he added quickly, "anything wrong with my chakra?" Neji nodded while Naruto just grinned like an idiot. "I thought so. Hm. Guess I will have to talk to baa-chan about it," he admitted looking a little down. Neji nodded.

"That would be best. Godaime-sama probably knows more about what's happening than I do. But tell her that she'll want to work quickly," he added knowing that Naruto would probably either forget or not want to go. "Your chakra is tearing your body apart from the inside out. Go at most a day without some form of medical treatment and you'd probably die from internal injuries," he added to try to scare Naruto into having the Godaime Hokage check up on him. Naruto nodded and flashed another idiotic grin.

"By the way, you should probably go get prepared to leave. I think you stared into space for too long,"Naruto added, pointing up at the sky. At least fifteen minutes had passed while Neji was deep in thought. Neji nodded and walked away from his post to get prepared to leave. Meanwhile, Sakura had already sent Tenten to get prepared and she had given another dose of pills to Sasuke. Yamato had created several wooden clones to help if danger arrived and had told Lee to go get ready, but he refused while droning on about how someone youthful would never do such a thing. Sai had barely moved except to look around every few minutes to make sure neither Orochimaru nor Kabuto were anywhere to be found.

Soon enough, every one of the ninja were prepared to leave. However, Yamato wasn't entirely sure what to do with the cage. He thought for a few moments. Making a smaller cage to keep him in would be a good idea. However, it would be slightly odd to carry so he threw out that idea. He could move the cage that Sasuke was in now by using wood, but it would take too much chakra and he needed to conserve it in case of a fight. He thought through several more ideas, but none of them appealed to him. Finally he thought of one and quickly put it to action.

Meanwhile, Sakura was talking to Naruto sternly. "I don't want you to push it, Naruto," she said. "You really shouldn't be traveling because of those injuries," she added before getting a quick reply from Naruto.

"I'm gonna be the Hokage some day! I can't let little injuries pull me back like this!" he stated triumphantly. He thrust an arm into the air but quickly pulled it back down when he felt a wave of pain travel down from his arm into his spine and then across his body. Sakura gave him a stern look.

"What were you saying about that? I am your doctor. You _will_ do as I say," she demanded.

"Awwwwww, but Sakura-chaaaan," he whined. To that, Sakura gave Naruto, what she thought, a light punch to his head. Unfortunately, what was a light punch to Sakura was not a light punch to Naruto.

"Ow," he whined putting his hands on the back of his head.

* * *

Apair ofsnake-like eyes slit and a hiss could be heard coming from the owner of the eyes. "Kabuto," he calmly said to the gray-haired young adult next to him, "I believe we need to get him back." The teen nodded his head with respect.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." He responded. He then took off quickly to follow his master through the foliage.

* * *

Naruto looked over at Yamato, or more precisely, two Yamatos. One of them had a normal sized person tied to his back with wooden planks. The wooden planks were sticking out of the Yamato's back so that even if they were to be broken, it would easy to repair them. Yamato gathered what was left of Gai's team and his own team together to explain what the mission's new breakdown was. "Alright, this escort should be fairly dangerous. Knowing that snake lover, he'll be after Sasuke soon. It's been over a day now since we have captured him," Yamato explained, pointing behind him, "so Orochimaru may very well be close to our current location. Every few hours we'll stop to check for anything that needs medical attention and we'll also switch off who will be carrying Sasuke," Yamato explained. "If anyone does attack, our first priority is to get Sasuke away, so whoever has him needs to run. Understand?" he asked and when everyone had nodded he continued. "As far as we know, Orochimaru could have an entire army after us just to retrieve Sasuke," he explained. "Basically, we'll move in a line and be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. There may be traps waiting for us," he explained.

All of the ninja that had surrounded Yamato listened for the next few minutes to learn their positions in the line. The order had been decided by Yamato, so Sai was first because he was observant and would be able to find traps that could be set waiting for them. Yamato was second so he would be able to easily order the rest of the teams. Lee and Naruto were both after Yamato because of their quick reflexes. Tenten was next so that while those in front of her were acting as a distraction she could stun the enemy with her weapons and then Sakura, who was behind her, could hit them hard with a punch while the enemy was distracted. Finally, Neji was last since he could scout ahead, to the sides, and behind them with his Byakugan.

After hearing the strategy, Naruto was vaguely surprised by how much this formation resembled theone Shikamaru came up with during the mission to retrieve Sasuke. Naruto giggled slightly at the irony of it. He snapped out of it once Team Yamato, as itwill be known for now,had arranged into the line that had beendiscussed except for himself. He quickly filed into line and they all took off.

* * *

Back at Konoha, Tsunade paced the width of the office she was forced to work in. She would have much rather preferred a bigger room, but to her dislike this was one of the biggest in the entire building. She had yet to hear from Team Kakashi or Team Gai. She had only sent Team Gai out a half a day ago, but she was still worrying. She knew Kabuto was working for Orochimaru, but she doubted that it had turned into a conflict. However, if it had, that would very easily explain why she hadn't heard from either team.

She quit pacing and walked to her desk. She sighed and sat down, placing her elbows onto the desk and her hands over her mouth. She decided that a bit of sake would help to reduce her stress and worrying. She reached down and unlocked the drawer located in the bottom left of her desk. On the top it looked like she had several files scattered around, which she did. But she moved a small pile of paperwork to the side and revealed her stash of sake. She took a bottle out and reminded herself to buy more soon. Her stash now only had three more bottles before it ran out.

She opened the bottle and downed the contents in only a few gulps. She then stared at the bottle as if that action would somehowcreate more sake. She sighed and set it down on her desk before a knock was heard at the door. She put the bottle back into the drawer, moved the files back onto the top, and shut the drawer. After locking the drawer securely and returning the key to its proper hiding place she finally yelled, "Come in," and made herself look busy. She was fairly surprised to see a certain ninja walk through her door. "And what are you doing here?" she asked him.

* * *

Note: Nice cliffie, eh? I feel kind of evil leaving it like that, but oh well. You'll figure out who it is next chapter!

Yeah, I decided to keep this chapter a little laid-back. But at least I threw in some foreshadowing and suspense and etc. I also tried to write this in a better style and I tried to write it well, just better. Comparing this to the first chapter, I think I see quite a difference and I hope you guys do too.

I'm going to try to start updating every week around the same time. I think I'll make it around Tuesday or Wednesday. If you're lucky and I'm in a good mood and the next chapter's done, it could be earlier.

I had this week off and went nowhere, so I had WAY too much time on my hands. I feel like my brain has fried. Doing pretty much nothing but sitting at the computer for a week can do that to you. Hehe... Anyways...

Thank you everyone! For reviewing this, favoriting it, adding it to your alerts, for even just reading it. Thanks again.

Elizabet639


	5. Kakashi's Mission and A Few Fights

Hey guys, hope you enjoy this chapter. It's my longest so far!

I do not own Naruto in any way, even though I really wish I did.

"Talking"

_Thinking_

Like I said, enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 5: Kakashi's Mission and Team Yamato's Fight

Tsunade stared at the man that had walked into her office. "And what are you doing here?" she asked him sternly. "I thought I told you to rest," she added to satisfy her medical mind. The man smiled with his visible eye the way only he knew how to and scratched the back of his head.

"Maaa," he said lazily, "I was just wondering if my team had returned yet," he offered as more of a question than an answer. Tsunade sighed and wished she had a different hiding place for the key. She could use some sake right now. Instead, she just glared at Kakashi until he continued. "I know I shouldn't be up and about yet, since that last mission took a lot out of me," he offered as a treaty although it didn't work. Under Tsunade's glare he continued. "However, this is about my team, so I had to come. Besides, I can't feel Gai's presence anywhere, so I thought it would be safe to come out of hiding."

Tsunade finally answered Kakashi which made her wish for more sake. She reminded herself to have Shizune go get her some more later. "Kakashi, I have yet to hear from your team. As for Gai, I sent his team after your team for backup. They went to speak to Kabuto, but if a conflict ensued, then I don't know what could happen," she admitted with a sigh. "I probably should have tagged along just in case, but there are still things to settle with that last mission. The Kazekage plans to visit before too long," she informed him. "However, there is also so much of this Akatsuki crap to deal with," she said, pointing to a large pile of paperwork. Kakashi nodded and turned to leave. "Where do you think you're going?" he heard behind him. He sighed and turned back around. Tsunade was standing up now, her arms crossed under her bosom. Kakashi forced his perverted mind to look at her face. "If you're well enough to walk here, then you're going to be running some of Shizune's errands while she's out on a mission, understood?" she asked with a very persuading look on her face. Kakashi gulped and nodded quickly.

"Understood, Hokage-sama," he said which caused a small smile to cross Tsunade's features.

"Good," she said throwing him a wad of cash before sitting back down. Kakashi caught the cash and counted it up. At least three thousand ryo was sitting in his hand. He gave Tsunade a quizzical look but before he could ask Tsunade answered. "Go and buy me more sake. As much as possible with that amount," she added. When Kakashi didn't leave for several minutes her anger surfaced. "What are you still doing here?! Get out and _get me that sake!_" she said forcefully. Kakashi nodded and turned out the door. _Geez, _he thought, _she's really mean. Oh well, at least I get to get out._

* * *

Naruto jumped from tree to tree behind Lee, although he could feel a certain kunoichi behind him staring. He continued to jump behind Lee and tried to only focus on the act of not falling. However, he could feel his legs weakening with every jump. They had only been on the move for about an hour or two, so Naruto kept silent about it. The waves of pain he had felt after the first hour were still there, but his mind had mostly shut them out, which he was very grateful for. Any more of that pain and he knew he probably would have collapsed. He figured he would soon anyway. In front of him, it looked like Lee had been bent out of shape and everything had somehow blurred into everything near it. Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head to try and fix whatever had gone wrong. He opened his eyes to see the ground coming up at him. He blinked while his mind put it together. It figured several things out in a short amount of time, although Naruto himself didn't piece it together. His legs were in pain, his vision had blurred, he had shut his eyes and now the ground was coming up at him. A second too late his mind put the pieces together. _I'm falling, _he thought simply. _Well it explains the ground coming up at me, _he reasoned. He snapped back to reality when he heard his name.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled while jumping down to try and catch him before he fell. When Naruto heard that, he realized his body was acting on pure instinct. He had turned over in the air and had grabbed a somewhat stable branch without thinking. He sighed in relief with a shaky breath. Sakura landed on a nearby branch that was completely stable and instantly found herself mad. Her eye twitched and her lip curled back a little. Naruto looked over and wished he hadn't. "Naruto," Sakura said in a forced voice, "what did I tell you?" she asked him. By now, the rest of the squad had gathered around the two so they could make sure that nobody had been injured.

"Sakura-chan, calm down," he said shakily. He could feel the branch he was hanging onto bend and he could tell it would snap soon. He swung around, jumped, and landed on a sturdy branch near Lee and Yamato. He hoped that if worse came to worse they would be willing to help him. Yamato sighed loudly and announced that the group would take a break. During which, he would decide who would carry Sasuke next while Sakura took care of her patients. Naruto let out a sigh of relief. Then he heard that Sakura would be treating him, which wasn't something he wanted to hear. "Oh no," he muttered to himself while Sakura approached him.

* * *

The white haired jounin sighed. _I could go buy the latest Icha Icha Paradise book with all of this money…but then Godaime-sama would get angry, _he thought and envisioned what would happen if he were to anger her. _I think I'll go buy her the sake, _he decided. _But… where should I buy it? _he asked himself. He sighed again and shook his head. _This is why men shouldn't do chores. _

Kakashi walked past several stores before he decided it was a wild goose chase. If he got the wrong kind, he could see himself getting pummeled by Tsunade. If he took too long he could see the same thing happening. He stepped into a store that looked like it would sell sake. He lazily walked up to the counter and asked, "Maaa, do you sell sake to a Shizune?" The storeowner shook his head and Kakashi sighed. Then he turned and left. He repeated the routine several times before he saw something he wasn't expecting. He stared at the person for a few minutes before deciding to finish his task. He sighed. _I guess I'll talk to him later, he looks a little busy._

* * *

Naruto still felt pain whenever he touched the new bump on his head, even though Sakura was healing him. "Sakura-chan, did you really need to hit me that hard?" he asked rubbing the bump.

Sakura cut off the green chakra. "Yes," she said plainly. "Stay here while I go give Sasuke his medicine. Don't move. You still aren't healed," she said sternly. Naruto sighed and nodded. As soon as Sakura was out of sight he stood up and looked around. He had no reason to leave, but he had a bad feeling. He couldn't pinpoint what it was, but he knew that something bad was about to happen. He heard a growling noise and jumped. He readied a kunai but then realized it was his own stomach. He laughed nervously and put the kunai away. "I'm just a little jumpy," he said trying to calm himself down. He felt Sakura coming, so he lay back down in what resembled his original position. Sakura was mumbling to herself and adjusting her gloves. Naruto blinked and looked up at her before she sat down and started healing him again. She looked down at him with a face that made Naruto scared for his wellbeing.

"Good news," she muttered. "You get to ride on Lee's back and Sasuke is going to continue riding on Yamato's," she told him. Naruto sat up quickly from surprise.

"What? But I'm fine, I was just a little tired!" he protested. However, Sakura forced him back down and continued healing him.

"Doesn't matter," she said after a few minutes. "What does matter is that if you fall from that height and add those injuries to the ones you already have, you could very well die from internal injuries or you could bleed to death," she added and Naruto sighed. "If I only knew how it is that you get these injuries then it wouldn't be as bad. I could treat whatever it is that's doing this," she muttered to herself. Naruto stayed silent. He had decided to not tell any of his teammates about his problem and he had made Neji promise not to either. He only planned to tell Tsunade and that was it.

Sakura announced that she was halfway done. "For some reason, the injuries are worse this time around than before," she concluded. Naruto nodded although his mind was on the ominous feeling he had. He couldn't shake the feeling that was in the pit of his stomach and no, that wasn't hunger.

After a few more minutes his suspicions were confirmed. He heard a yell—it sounded like it had come from Tenten—and then the distinct clang of metal on metal. He stared at Sakura with eyes that begged her to let him go fight. They were in a location somewhat separated from the rest of the squad so he wasn't sure what had happened, but he sure wasn't going to sit back while everyone else fought. Sakura sighed after a minute of contemplating. "Fine," she finally submitted to those eyes. She took her hands off of his torso and let him go fight. She sighed, stood up, adjusted her gloves, and ran to the battlegrounds.

Sakura stared at the fight in front of her. Already, at least a dozen kunai and other objects were thrown around and Tenten already had another scroll opened. As far as she could tell, only Orochimaru and Kabuto had shown up to retrieve Sasuke. However, it was hard seeing as Naruto had created at least several dozen clones to aid in the fight. She could see Lee dashing around madly getting in kicks and punches. Yamato was busy creating a small cage for Sasuke again. During the break he had let Sasuke out of the wooden cage he had been traveling in, which he now realized was not a good idea. Sakura looked back at the fight to see that only a few Naruto clones were remaining and that Neji had taken his normal fighting stance. For right now, he was battling with Kabuto. Neji had gotten a few hits in so he had managed to shut off some chakra points, although not many. Kabuto was still attacking the Hyuuga with ferocity and Sakura decided to help. Who better to fight a medical nin than a medical nin? Naruto, Tenten, Sai, and Lee were all busy fending off Orochimaru. Sakura concluded that she could easily take care of Kabuto with the help of Neji and then they could both help assist the rest of their team in keeping Orochimaru busy. Sakura ran up to where Neji was and jumped up. She readied her fist to attack but Kabuto saw it coming and jumped out of the way. However, Neji realized what was going to happen so he had jumped to the exact place he knew Kabuto would jump to. "Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!" he yelled, instantly launching into his attack on Kabuto's chakra points. After the vicious attack, Sakura took the chance to land a direct punch on Kabuto. It sent him flying, but as soon as she turned to help distract Orochimaru, she heard him laugh, which made him sound slightly like a maniac. Neji turned and glared at him with his Byakugan.

* * *

Meanwhile, Orochimaru was easily taking care of the clones, weapons, ink attacks, and punches that were thrown his way. He laughed lightly at the Konoha ninja's futile attempts to keep him at bay. Naruto created even more clones, although it caused more pain than usual when he forced chakra through his body. He gritted his teeth and made a dozen more clones appear. Tenten continued to throw more and more weapons at Orochimaru. Lee was exhausted, so he took his leg weights off to give him more speed. "Sougu Tensasai!" Tenten managed to yell. However, yet again she found that the jutsu had little to no effect on her opponent. Nearly all of the weapons she had used now found themselves stuck in trees or in the ground. She quickly summoned a pole to fight with. Naruto created more clones than he had before, which of course caused him more pain. He found himself down on his knees amongst a crowd of his clones. He managed to stand back up and help in the fight. He slowly realized that using chakra was causing him more pain. It made sense, of course. Just not at the moment to Naruto. So, he continued to use chakra. He had a clone help him to create a Rasengan which he promptly tried to shove at Orochimaru. Orochimaru saw the attack coming and had already used the Kawarimi jutsu to replace his body with a log. As soon as the Rasengan hit the log, Naruto realized what had happened. He tried to turn his body so that he could stop the Rasengan and fight more, but when he did move he saw too late that Orochimaru had already thrown a kunai at him. Tenten noticed and threw a kunai to deflect it, but her kunai was traveling too fast so it just flew by while Orochimaru's hit Naruto's right shoulder. When Orochimaru had first thrown the kunai, he had been distracted so Lee appeared in front of him near the ground. With a quick kick skyward, Orochimaru found a ninja shoe in his face. He had not been expecting it, so it hit him exactly where Lee had planned it and Orochimaru landed several meters away from the small group.

Naruto ripped the kunai from his shoulder after the Rasengan had dissipated. He watched for a moment as the small wound first started to heal itself and then grow bigger; it almost looked like the tissue surrounding the wound was in a war with itself. Naruto shook his head and turned his attention back to the fight.

* * *

Neji stared at his opponent and waited to see what would happen next. Sakura had had enough of waiting, she wanted to fight. She concentrated her chakra to her hands and ran up to Kabuto. As soon as she reached him she began to pummel him with punches. Neji watched with surprise. It looked like Sakura was barely doing any damage. Kabuto laughed lightly at Sakura's attempt to incapacitate him. "That will never work," he said. "I had already begun the healing process before you even ran at me, before the Hyuuga attempted to shut off my chakra points!" he added. "That's why Orochimaru-sama likes me so much, for this power of mine." He concentrated chakra to his own hand.

"Sakura! Get out of the way," Neji warned her. She nodded and jumped back several feet just before Kabuto's hand cut through the air where she had been a minute ago. She could feel the chakra was used for cutting and not healing. She glanced over at the other fight to see that more Narutos had appeared. She returned her gaze to her opponent, who was currently busy fighting Neji again. She could tell that Neji could easily hold his ground, but she wasn't sure if it was enough to beat Kabuto. The kunoichi glanced back over at Naruto's fight. It was hard to decide whether to go help Naruto and the rest fight Orochimaru or stay where she was and help Neji fight Kabuto, but she decided to stay and fight with Neji. She joined the fight again by throwing punches and kicks at Kabuto whenever she saw an opening. She felt her punches and kicks connect most of the time, and she wasn't too surprised when Kabuto was not able to heal most of his injuries quick enough. Once, while both had jumped back from a quick swipe from Kabuto, Neji informed her that Kabuto's chakra was slowly diminishing and would be gone in a little while. Sakura nodded and they both continued their assault on the Sound nin.

* * *

Naruto's clones and Sai's ink animals attacked Orochimaru as a distraction for Tenten and Lee, who apparently had come up with a plan. Orochimaru frowned while the clones came at him. "This is getting boring," he said quickly dispatching any and all clones that attacked him. Tenten readied the giant scroll on her back and waited for her moment to strike. She watched as the green blur appeared in front of Orochimaru and placed a kick square in his chest. Before he could get far, though, Lee had kicked him again near Tenten. Tenten took the opportunity and used the same technique again. The summoned weapons fell down with perfect accuracy. Orochimaru smirked and used the Kawarimi jutsu to avoid the falling shuriken, kunai, and other assorted weapons. The weapons cut deeply into the Naruto that Orochimaru had switched his own body with and impaled several clones of Naruto, who disappeared in a puff of smoke. The Naruto that Orochimaru had used also disappeared to his teammates' relief. Naruto slowly realized that his body was screaming in pain, but he didn't pay attention to it, he was too busy trying to think of a strategy that didn't involve using the Kyuubi's chakra to beat Orochimaru. Unfortunately his mind couldn't come up with a good plan in the time allowed. So, being his usual self, he resolved to beat the crap out of Orochimaru. It had worked several times before, so he didn't see a problem with it.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled one of the more infamous of his techniques. It caused pain in his entire body, but he managed to create a dozen or so clones. Tenten had produced another large pole that she was trying to beat Orochimaru with. Lee and Sai were also busy trying to hit Orochimaru again. Some attacks landed, but not enough to truly make a difference. Naruto was using more and more chakra to create shadow clones to attack the snake man. When he used chakra, however, he could feel the strain it put on his body.

* * *

Sakura hit Kabuto several more times and he finally reacted negatively to the punches and kicks. Sakura hit him a few more times and Kabuto realized that his chakra was too low. Neji confirmed any suspicions he had. "Sakura, he's out of chakra," he said before she nodded and adjusted her gloves. A smirk crossed her face as she jumped up and prepared to attack. There was a certain gleam in Kabuto's eyes as gravity took a hold of Sakura's body and pulled her back down to the earth. She turned so that she would fall fist first. The effect of falling added to her chakra-enhanced punches could easily take out Kabuto and she knew it. She curled her hand into a fist and fell to the ground.

Naruto felt the ground shake under him as Sakura's punch connected. Neji glared through the dust and dirt that had risen from the impact. He could still see a chakra signature, but he was unsure of whether it was Kabuto's or Sakura's. He continued to stare and eventually recognized the signature. It belonged to neither Sakura nor Kabuto, but rather someone else entirely.

"Geez," a familiar voice said, "we were just returning to Konoha from a mission, but you guys made a racket so Ino said we had to come and check it out," the lazy ninja announced. "Sure, she transferred her mind to a hawk and flew overhead first to make sure it wasn't just a fight with some bandits or something, but apparently you guys really needed our help," he added with a tone of voice that made it sound like he really would rather be doing something else. Of course, he probably would. Neji sighed in relief, but then realized he should be searching for Kabuto. When he finally found him, he realized that Sakura was doing plenty to keep him busy. By the time her fist had connected with the ground, she was already angry so she was taking her anger out on Kabuto, the person who had caused most of it. Most of her punches were connecting, but when Kabuto got a hit in it was aimed at vital points or points he knew would cause serious damage. Sakura, however, knew that they were coming and usually moved out of the way enough to sustain damage, but not enough to incapacitate her.

* * *

Orochimaru found himself easily blocking and deflecting every attack thrown at him. Sure, the annoying one that was wearing a green jumpsuit was a bit harder to block, but it didn't stop Orochimaru from doing so. One of the several Narutos yelled with small grunt of pain as the Kusanagi cut through its body a second before it disappeared. Orochimaru was now annoyed at the ninja's feeble attempts, seeing as they kept coming at him. He swung his sword again, taking care of several clones at once. He noticed that the real Naruto had yet to attack him, even though he talked about 'kicking his ass', if Orochimaru remembered correctly. He looked over at the one that had been throwing weapons at him nonstop. She had obviously run out of chakra from summoning the multitude of weapons throughout the battle since she was slumped over with her hands on her knees to keep steady. He looked over at the other one that was wearing a green jumpsuit of sorts. He was obviously tired out, but he continued to fight. Orochimaru smirked lightly. "This is fairly intriguing," he said lightly. He looked back over to Naruto, who surprisingly, had yet to create more shadow clones. Instead, the jinchuuriki was holding his shoulder and glaring at Orochimaru. He faintly remembered seeing a kunai he had thrown pierce the Genin's shoulder before he was saw the bottom of a shoe and was sent several feet away. Orochimaru frowned as he remembered the kick. It hadn't hurt much, but he did not like the blow either way. He looked around and realized that he was no longer near Kabuto or his fight, which was fine with him.

* * *

Meanwhile, about a half mile away, Sakura, Neji, and the Ino-Shika-Cho team had managed to deplete Kabuto's chakra and force him into submission. Sakura smirked down at the Sound nin before Neji reported that Naruto, Tenten, and Lee needed help. Sakura nodded and the two left Kabuto in their friends' hands while they jumped off to help the small team fighting Orochimaru. "What does it look like?" Sakura asked Neji while they were running.

"Not too good. Tenten's chakra is gone, Lee is getting exhausted, Sai is in a location that I can't see, and Naruto doesn't look like he can form handsigns or anything," he reported. "However, Orochimaru has used almost no chakra and is easily deflecting and blocking all of Lee's taijutsu attacks."

"Does he have his weights on?" Neji shook his head and Sakura sighed. Finally they arrived on scene to see a startled Tenten staring at them.

"Thank goodness!" the weapon mistress sighed in relief. "Lee's barely able to hold him off even with his weights off, Naruto hasn't made any shadow clones in a while, and I'm all out of chakra," she reported since she had no clue that Neji had already deducted that. Naruto turned around to see Sakura and Neji, only to have a shocked look cross over his face before he turned back around. Lee had landed a few feet in front of him, so he ran up to check on him.

"Ow," Lee mumbled before getting up. "Naruto-kun! My youthfulness alone is not enough to stop this man! You must help!" he said triumphantly. Naruto looked down at his shoulder for a second and shrugged.

"Yosh!" he said, punching his left fist into the air. It exposed his shoulder wound, but Sakura was on the other side of him and Lee paid no attention at all to it. Naruto could almost feel the edges of the small wound burning away and healing itself again, part of which was a painful process. Naruto went at Orochimaru from the front and tried to avoid any and all attacks. However, he found himself with several small cuts and scratches. Wherever a wound was created, he could feel the small war begin, but he didn't pay attention to it. Instead, he continued his small onslaught against Orochimaru. Then, Lee appeared behind Orochimaru and kicked him into the air. Naruto smiled. _The plan's working, _he thought excitedly. However, Orochimaru spun around and before Lee could react, he had kicked him.

"Oof!" Lee let out as he hit the ground quite a bit away.

"Bushy Brow!" Naruto yelled out. He started to run to where Lee had landed, but he stopped in his tracks when Orochimaru landed in the exact spot he had been in before Lee had kicked him.

"Now," Orochimaru mused, "where were we?" he smirked. Naruto instinctively took a few steps back. Then, Orochimaru stared over him and at Sakura, Neji, and Tenten with no emotion. Only Neji held the man's gaze, the other two found a reason to look away. Tenten looked over in a worried way to her other teammate and Sakura decided to stare at the red swirl on Naruto's back. She traced it with her eyes until Naruto turned to give her a quick foxy grin to let her know that it would be fine. He had been careful to not show her his wound when he did though.

Orochimaru smirked. The fight would be much easier won than the last. He even realized that he wouldn't need to use any snakes to win at this rate. The blonde jinchuuriki turned back around and glared at his only opponent.

* * *

Yamato felt bad for leaving the rest of his team behind, but he had no choice. He had said that no matter what get Sasuke away first things first, right? He sighed and rushed through the foliage as fast as he could with the extra weight on his back, which happened to be not so quick. He felt a familiar chakra signature approaching so he stopped for a moment to make sure it wasn't just back at the fight. When he realized it wasn't, he turned and continued to run. That person would have no problem catching up to him with the extra weight.

Yamato stopped again. _What was that? _he wondered, looking behind him. He could have sworn that Sasuke had just moved, but it was probably just his imagination or a branch. Sakura had assured him that Sasuke should be out for at least another few hours, even if he was fighting the medicine. The dosage, she had said, was high enough to knock Naruto out for at least an hour or two. He remembered clearly that she had also said, "I didn't want to have to travel too far without a rest if that knucklehead wants to go somewhere, he normally doesn't want to stop."

He let the feeling pass and continued to run.

* * *

Tsunade rubbed her temples in frustration. _Where in the hell is that sake?! _she asked her mind. _Shizune would have it by now, what in the hell is that jounin pervert doing? _She glared evilly at the four empty sake bottles in front of her. If Shizune had been there she would have run out to buy her some sake with her own money. Unfortunately, Shizune was out on a mission and Tsunade had made the mistake of sending Kakashi off on Shizune's chores.

"Maaa," Kakashi muttered not very thoughtfully. He was about to give up searching for the sake since it had gotten late and he was one of the laziest ninja next to Shikamaru. He sighed and walked into a store he didn't recognize. He bargained with himself for several minutes before going in. _This will be the last store, _he decided as he walked in. "Do you happen to sell a Shizune sake?" he asked the man behind the first counter he saw. The man raised a quick eyebrow.

"And why would you need to know?" he asked Kakashi, who responded with a sigh. "Look, my clients like to keep their information private," he informed Kakashi.

"Well, it's really for Tsunade and I doubt she would like it very much if she doesn't get that sake," he muttered more to himself than the man in front of him.

"Tsunade-san?" Kakashi nodded in answer. "Well never mind then, how much do you need?" Kakashi couldn't believe what he had just heard, but he went along with it regardless. He handed the man the money he had received from Tsunade and told him as much as he could buy with that amount. The man nodded and went back to the cellar to retrieve the amount of sake.

Kakashi sat down and looked around while he waited for the man to return with the sake. His eye caught sight of the newest book of the Icha Icha series. He sighed loudly and pulled out Icha Icha Tactics, which he had yet to finish. He didn't have many breaks except for when he was put on bed rest and even then he was bugged constantly by Gai and, well, that was about it.

For the next few minutes he busied himself with reading and making a few perverted giggles from time to time. "Sir?" the man asked in a strained voice. Kakashi turned around to see the man carrying a crate with about twenty bottles of sake within it. "I got your sake," he explained after he set the crate down with a thud. Kakashi stared at it. _I thought Tsunade didn't want my health to suffer from this, _he thought while sweatdropping. He picked it up and started to walk out.

"Arigato," he said calmly before leaving. The crate was heavier than he had expected, but it was no problem for Kakashi to carry, even if it was putting a strain on his back. He sighed and realized that he was as far away from the Hokage Tower and he could have gotten without running into Gai, so he turned around and hoped that the green spandex man would come nowhere near Konoha until he had delivered the package. After ten minutes, Kakashi felt an ominous wind blow through the air and he knew what it was.

"Kakashi! My greatest rival!" the green spandex man yelled. Kakashi sighed again and kept walking until Gai had caught up. "What are you doing, rival? I thought Tsunade-sama had told you to rest!"

"Maaa, did you say something?" he asked a few minutes later.

"KAKASHI!! I ADMIRE YOUR HIP-NESS!" Gai yelled, striking a pose with fire burning in his eyes. Kakashi sighed and sweatdropped.

"Gai," he said, drawing the ninja's attention, "I need to go to Tsunade's office, can't we do this some other time?" Kakashi asked and he became slightly embarrassed for his 'rival' when Gai struck yet another pose and gave Kakashi a thumbs-up.

"Wonderful idea, Kakashi!" Gai yelled and fell into step beside Kakashi.

"I didn't even offer for you to walk with me," Kakashi mumbled to himself since Gai was going off on a rant about youthfulness again.

* * *

Note: Well guys, I hope you all enjoyed it. HUGE shoutout to AnimeOtaku31821, my beta. I had my first cases of writer's block throughout this chapter. Boy, they really suck. Still, she managed to put up with me and help me through it. She also gave me a few ideas for the next chapter.

Anyway, the fight was the hardest thing to write, and the get my mind off of it, I threw in the little Kakashi parts. Clever, eh? Another cliffie end... sortta. It's in there at least.

Happy late Easter! Well, that's why I'm putting this up early. I was going to put it up Easter, but my computer kind of died a little. Plus, I'm in a happy mood and this is done, so here it is!

Another shoutout to anyone and everyone that has reviewed, put this on your favorites list, added it to your alerts, and all that good stuff. Thanks a ton. When I see how many hits a get, I do a double take. I want to work hard to make a good fanfic that people will like, and feedback is always wonderful. Again, thanks a ton! If you want to make a suggestion of any kind, please just PM me or leave a review with it.

I appreciate knowing what you guys think about Scars of a Martyr and that you readers are keeping up with it.

Stay tuned, another chapter coming next week. Wish me luck agaisnt the dreaded writer's block.

Elizabet639


	6. An Unexpected Savior

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. I'll let you know when I do.

"Talking"

_Thinking _

As always, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: An Unexpected Savior

"Gai," the masked man mumbled through his mask. However, the man wearing green spandex didn't reply. "Oi," he tried a little louder. However, his voice was canceled out by the other's rant. "Oi," he tried even louder, but after year upon year of dealing with the youthful ranting, he knew that his self-proclaimed rival would not hear him. "Gai, I have a new challenge!" he said loud enough, which caught the other's attention.

"Ohh? Is it a youthful competition?! Like a battle?!" he asked enthusiastically, striking a pose. The white-haired jounin sighed lightly, the only reason to even suspect it was that his visible eye closed and the mask moved a tad bit outward.

"No, Gai. More like a hip competition," he said, which caused a very enthusiastic reaction from his rival. "The competition is," he paused since he knew how much it would bother his rival, "well, it's…" Kakashi was thinking on his toes now. It wasn't hard, but he had several ideas. Have a race to the Hokage tower? No, Gai would definitely win. Have Gai carry the box? It would work, but then Tsunade would know he hadn't done his 'mission'. Play a silence game? Well, Kakashi could win and it would shut Gai up. Still, there were more options. However, his mind was on his team and how they were doing, so he didn't know what to pick. Gai had a deep fire burning in his eyes and he was clearly excited to see what Kakashi's new challenge was. Kakashi looked over at the man and sighed. "Maaa, I forgot," he said.

"YOUR HIPNE—"

"I remembered!" Kakashi exclaimed. He couldn't stand another rant from his 'rival'. "Let's see who can stay silent the longest," Kakashi muttered just loud enough for him to hear. When Gai took a deep breath Kakashi continued. "Starting now!" Gai closed his mouth and Kakashi sighed mentally. _Thank goodness. Now it's only a matter of time before we get to Tsunade-sama's office. _

* * *

Blonde eyes stared coldly at the calm snake-like pair. Neither of the two shinobi had moved for a while, but of course not one of the other shinobi had jumped in to help. Lee was lying on the ground unconscious from exhaustion and being beaten up by the rogue Sannin. Tenten was out of chakra, Sai was nowhere to be found, Sakura was just staring with fear in her eyes, and Neji was using his remaining chakra to search the area for Sai, Yamato, and Sasuke.

Naruto gritted his teeth and readied himself for a fight, being careful with his right arm. Orochimaru smirked and waited for the Jinchuuriki to make the first move. Of course the hyperactive knucklehead ninja would attack first; it was almost a certain fact. The blonde's hand formed into fists and since Orochimaru was right in front of him, he couldn't help but lash out in anger. The fist that Orochimaru had predicted was easily avoided by leaning to the left only about an inch. The snake smirked and kicked hard. The kick connected with Naruto stomach and forced the air out of his lungs. The blonde bent over and tried to catch his breath. The gasping from his stopped only a second before he was down on the ground with a foot on top of his chest. Then a thought struck him, which was a pretty rare thing. The thought was that he was injured enough that his body wasn't responding exactly how it should, which was why he didn't even see Orochimaru before he was on the ground.

The snake looked down at the Jinchuuriki, unsure of whether to kill him. He had no feelings for the Kyuubi brat, he was almost sure. However, would it truly benefit him? Of course it would, then Akatsuki would never complete their goal. He put more pressure onto the boy's chest, which caused him to wince. "Guh," Naruto half coughed. The man smirked and raised his sword.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, making a move toward him. However, she stopped in her tracks when a pale hand grabbed Orochimaru's wrist mid-swing. Naruto's eyes widened and Orochimaru stared calmly behind him at the young man who had grabbed his wrist.

* * *

Yamato stood up and rubbed his sore back. He trusted Sakura, but he was still glad that he had reinforced his back with strong wood. Otherwise it would be a lot more than sore. "Yamato-taichou?" Yamato turned his head to look over at the boy that had spoken. "What happened exactly?" Yamato thought for a minute before answering.

"I'm not exactly sure. I felt my back go numb and that's about all I remember," he replied stretching his back. Of course, he did remember more, but the details were fuzzy and he wasn't sure if they were real or not. Sai just thought back to what happened. Of course, he couldn't make much sense of it either.

"So he really got away?" he asked for about the fifth time since he had woken up. Yamato nodded and stretched even more. However, his back refused to cooperate and instead of feeling better, it felt like he had pulled a muscle. He sighed and stopped stretching while Sai looked around. "Where'd he go?" he asked. Yamato shrugged.

"Probably went off to that master of his. Can't stay away from him for too long. It has been about a day and a half by now," he added for effect. Sai didn't respond and looked away in an odd direction. Yamato raised an eyebrow but didn't ask what he was looking at. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused. The seeds he had Naruto and Sakura swallow might still be working, so he could technically be able to sense where they were, as long as they were using chakra. Almost immediately Yamato's eyes snapped open and he looked in the same direction as Sai.

"You noticed too?" the pale boy asked. Yamato nodded and gave a silent order. Then they both jumped off through the foliage in the direction they had been looking only a few moments before.

* * *

The azure eyes closed in pain as he felt more weight on his chest. The cough that was trying to force its way through his airway was kept back painfully. Still, the boy forced his eyes open and tried to breathe normally. He could hear people talking and he could barely pick the words out, but it was hard.

"S-Sasuke-kun…" a pink-haired girl forced the words out loud enough, even through her shocked state.

"Hm? Sasuke-kun, why aren't you letting me kill this boy?" the man asked while putting more pressure on Naruto's chest. He had completely forgotten that he was even there. Naruto grunted in pain but he was ignored completely.

"Why do you need to? I didn't think a Sannin would need to kill such a waste of the shinobi name," he said and Orochimaru's smirk turned into a straight face. "Besides," he added, but the rest of his sentence was a whisper. Orochimaru's smirked appeared, although there was a brighter glow to his snake eyes than usual.

"Fine," he said before putting his sword away in his normal disgusting manner. Then he stepped off of Naruto and turned away. "But you're getting Kabuto," he murmured loud enough for the group to hear. The two missing nin disappeared in a puff of smoke. Not a single ninja moved for a few moments that felt like an eternity. Naruto tried to sit up but fell back down before he could.

"Itai!" he yelled out which caused nearly every person to jump back to reality. Sakura ran up to her teammate's side and crouched down. While she looked him over with her eyes, they stopped dead at his right shoulder. Her eyes traveled to his face to see a pained look, but he was still smiling. "I'll be fine, Sakura. I just need to rest," he concluded. The look that was planted on Sakura's told him that even if he thought that, she didn't believe it for a minute. Naruto's features changed from pained to scared as he tried to come up with something to say so that she wouldn't give him that look. He told his muscles to move so that he could prove that he would be fine, but he found himself paralyzed. Panic crossed his face and Sakura smirked. He looked down to see her hand on his shoulder near his neck.

"There. Try and get away now," she taunted him before she placed her hands onto his abdomen. When she felt him wince, she could also feel the heat radiating from his body. After taking her hands off of his abdomen, she took off his headband and felt his forehead. _A fever, _she thought while thinking about anyway to get cool water. "Neji!" the prodigy turned his head at the sound of his name. He and Tenten were checking up on Lee, and it seemed like he didn't have too many injuries, but rather he was just exhausted. "Can you find a stream and bring me back some cool water?" she asked before Lee jumped up full of energy again.

"I will, Sakura-chan!" he yelled while giving a thumbs-up.

"Lee, do you even know where the nearest source of water is?" Neji asked, stopping Lee in his tracks. After a moment of thinking, Lee shook his head. "Lee and I will fetch the water," he offered before turning and walking towards the nearest site of water. Sakura nodded and turned her attention back to Naruto. He smiled up at her through tired eyes and she focused again on healing him.

"You sure you don't know what's wrong?" she asked him again after she was done with his shoulder wound. Naruto nodded tiredly, but he managed to stay awake. A sigh escaped from her lips and Naruto gave her a quizzical look. Her quick reply was a smile. "You can sleep, you know. I'm not going to keep you up while I'm healing you," she added and Naruto nodded. A concerned look appeared on her face again; she had noticed his breathing was becoming labored and she didn't know exactly why, but at least he was going to sleep.

On the other side of Naruto, Lee appeared with a canteen of water that he pulled out of his pack. "Anything else, Sakura-chan?"

"Do you have any clean rags?" she asked and Lee produced a rag from his pack. It was a little dirty, but Sakura decided it was better than nothing. After nearly drenching the cloth in water she rung it out so it was damp and cool. She then placed it on Naruto's exposed forehead; she was hoping it would keep his fever down until she had healed him. By now, Lee, Tenten, and Neji had found a way to be near the blonde genin.

* * *

"Why do we have to guard this stupid guy? I mean, he's out of chakra, isn't he?" the pineapple asked the other two that surrounded a man tied up.

"That's what Neji told us," the blonde girl offered. The final member chimed in, but it was incomprehensible since his mouth was full of food. "Chouji! That's disgusting! You really should be on a diet," she responded to her teammate's behavior. The largest of the three shrugged and continued to eat from a bag of chips. The pineapple reached over and grabbed a chip from the bag, making sure it wasn't the last. He looked it over before popping it into his mouth. He sat down and stared up at the sky.

"Damn trees, I can't see anything through them," he mumbled to the treetops. The blonde girl sighed loudly.

"I swear, you two wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for me. Do I have to mother you two forever?" Chouji completely ignored her and Shikamaru continued to stare at the clouds wordlessly. "Oh come on!" she yelled while stamping her boot into the ground.

Shikamaru turned his head and saw a kunai flying at him soundlessly. "Jump!" he yelled and Chouji and Ino immediately went into action. A figure appeared behind Shikamaru while he was jumping and Shikamaru turned around, but not soon enough. He felt a blow to his neck and he fell down to the earth unconscious. The blur moved to in front of Chouji and kicked him in the gut down to the ground. A small crater appeared in the ground where Chouji had landed before Ino was smacked into a tree in nearly the same way, except she fell to the ground.

Kabuto looked up at the ruckus and wished that it was his master, but it turned out to be a person he almost despised, even though his master liked him more than Kabuto. The ropes around the medic were cut loose and he stood up. After that he just jumped away, a thank you of any kind would just be shrugged off by his 'savior' anyway. He wanted to be by Orochimaru's side, not this punk's.

* * *

Yamato and Sai landed on the ground only a few feet away from the rest of their squad. "Oi, is Naruto okay?" Yamato asked. He knew that Tsunade-sama was connected to this child somehow, so he didn't want him to die on one of the missions he was in charge of. The pink-haired kunoichi nodded and other than that, she didn't reply. Instead, Tenten provided a reason why she didn't reply.

"She's been healing Naruto on the better part of about a half hour, and she was already nearly out of chakra," the weapon mistress tilted her head over to Neji, which was supposed to tell Yamato that she had gotten the information from the Hyuuga prodigy. Yamato nodded and scanned his team. He could tell they were exhausted, but there was unfortunately not much he could do about it. As he scanned Tenten, he noticed that she was smiling at either Neji or Lee, it was hard to tell. Maybe it was even both of them. He also noticed that each member of his team was injured in some way, but he wasn't exactly sure of the severity of their injuries. Obviously, Naruto's were the worse considering his condition, but he realized that the team needed to get on the move as soon as possible.

"As soon as Naruto is well enough to travel, we'll have to leave," he informed them. A stern look was thrown his way by Sakura.

"Even after he's healed that much, I am not going to let him just walk around on his own," she said sternly.

"I can understand that, Sakura. I'll carry him like I carried Sasuke so he won't fall and he shouldn't be injured," he informed her. Sakura sighed and realized it was one of the only ways to get Naruto to Konoha without completely depleting her chakra reserves. Yamato and Sakura talked over the details for several minutes before finally coming up with a reasonable agreement. Meanwhile, Tenten was tending to her teammates' wounds since they weren't severe. She bandaged a few cuts on Neji, but Lee had several bruises and a few deep cuts, but it wasn't anything too serious. After she had cleaned and dressed his wounds, Lee was back to being as enthusiastic as ever. It was fairly entertaining to watch his run around while punching and kicking in the air, demonstrating how he 'defeated' Orochimaru. It continued for quite a few minutes until Neji had finally had enough from his teammate.

"Lee," he said but it failed to get his attention. Lee continued with his odd act and Neji tried again to get his attention. "Oi, Lee," he tried louder. This time, Lee heard him.

"Neji-kun! Do you want to help me in my great youthful training?" Neji sighed and shook his head. "Oh!" Lee punched a fist into his open palm. "You finally want that piggyback ride!" Neji's eyes widened a bit but they quickly returned to normal.

"No." Lee's facial figures sunk for a moment. After a quick pat on the back by Tenten though, he was quickly back to his old self.

"Alright, everyone ready to go?" Yamato asked after he finished talking to Sakura. The team nodded and gathered the few belongings they had scattered about. After the team leader deducted that everyone was present, he asked Sakura how much longer she would need.

"Give me about fifteen minutes and he should be well enough to travel on your back for a few hours," she reported before a shocked look crossed her face. "Neji!" the prodigy turned his head away from Lee to acknowledge that he had heard her. "How are Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji holding up?" She knew that she had been forgetting something but she never realized that the esteemed trio might have also been attacked after Neji and Sakura had left them alone with Kabuto. The veins around Neji's eyes became very visible, one of the only ways to know his kekkei genkai had been activated. After a moment of silence except for Lee's exuberant ranting, Neji closed his eyes and the veins disappeared back into his skull.

"Not a single member is moving, but there is no opposing threat near them at the moment," he reported and Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose to fend off an upcoming headache. Sakura looked over at Yamato as he started to mumble.

"Alright," he announced, "we'll go back and help the Ino-Shika-Cho trio before returning to Konoha. If it's needed we'll send three ninja as a team to retrieve medical help from Konoha." The team nodded and stood up. "Tenten, Neji, Lee," he called each of their names to grab their attention, "please hurry to the Ino-Shika-Cho group before us and we'll follow behind." Each member nodded at nearly the same time and took off, Neji in the lead. Yamato breathed out loudly after they had left.

"What's wrong, Yamato-taichou?" Sakura asked while she had taken a break to tend to Naruto's less serious injuries with just bandages and ointments. Even though she was being careful Naruto winced several times from his body's reflexes. She checked his forehead again for a fever. _It's a fever, but it's not as bad as before. _Still, she removed the current cloth from his forehead and replaced it with another.

"This whole mission," he finally admitted. "It should have been a fairly simple mission to gather information on both Sasuke and Orochimaru," he sighed out. "I can't believe Kakashi-sama and Jiraiya-sama have been able to put up with that knucklehead for so long," he mumbled. A small chuckle escaped from Sakura's lips at the statement. Yamato looked at her quizzically before she explained herself.

"I guess some people just get used to him after a while. He can get really serious when he needs to be," she said smiling. Yamato didn't reply and instead stretched his back again. Before Sakura could say anything else, Sai finally said something.

"It's been fifteen minutes," he said in a monotone voice. Before he knew it, he felt something connect with the back of his head and he flew forward. He blinked a few times and sat back up to see a fuming Sakura standing over his last position. He also noticed that her hand was clenched into a fist, so it was easy to assume that Sakura had punched him. Yamato sighed and realized that Sakura would be harder to get used to than Naruto.

* * *

"The next person that walks through that door is going to wish they hadn't…." an angered blonde muttered from behind her desk. It had been a very stressful last day for her, and she had yet to get more sake. Her fingers tapped methodically on the desk as she stared at the empty sake bottles in front of her. This, of course, just brought her anger to a higher climax. Finally, the door swung open and she stood up before cracking her knuckles. The chair behind her had been bolted down to the floor, but in her anger it was fairly easy for the Godaime to pick up the chair, even though she ripped off part of the floor with it. She flung the chair at the open door, not even bothering to look at the person standing in the doorway.

"I-i-i-itai!" a familiar yelled out.

"Maaa, looks like I win, Gai," Kakashi muttered through his mask before stepping around both the man clutching his injured head and the chair that had injured him.

"KAKASHI!! WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG TO GET MY SAKE?!" Tsunade demanded, looking for another object to throw.

"Oi, oi! Calm down, Tsunade-sama. I had a few problems finding the right store and then I ran into Gai over there," he sighed. "But I got the sake," he informed her setting the crate down. Tsunade blinked a few times and finally noticed that it was Gai she had thrown her chair at.

"Gai! Where's the rest of your team?" she asked quickly, completely forgetting about the sake.

"Well, Tsunade-sama, I ran here as fast as my youthfulness would let me, although my youthfulness, sadly, is not as fre—"

"SHUT UP AND GET TO THE POINT! Are. They. Okay?" she demanded. Gai stood upright and tried not to go off on another rant.

"Tsunade-sama, I cannot be sure! The last time I saw them, they were all doing fine and they had captured Sasuke! However, if they do not get here within another few hours, they told me to inform you that it was probably because of either Naruto's or Sasuke's condition, but if they didn't appear in Konoha up to a day after I arrived, then it would be wise to send at least one team after them," he briefly said, grateful that Tsunade had not tried to hit him again. Kakashi stared at his rival with a surprised look, even though it was hard to tell.

"Gai," Kakashi started, "do you know what Naruto's condition is?" he asked but he was disappointed when his rival just shook his head. The room was silent for a long moment before Tsunade sighed deeply.

"I'll have to take your word for it, Gai. If they do not show up in this office by this time tomorrow, I will send an available team after them. No," she said sternly when Kakashi started to talk, "you will not be a part of that team, Kakashi. You still need to rest! I might send an ANBU squad after them since they might still have Sasuke, but I don't think that I will need to resort to that," she informed Kakashi before moving behind her desk. Then she remembered that she had thrown her chair which led to the remembrance of _why_ she had thrown her chair. "Gai, you're dismissed," she informed him. "However, Kakashi, you still need to explain to me why it took you so long to bring me my sake," she threatened after Gai had left. Kakashi gulped and sweatdropped.

_Oh no…_

* * *

Note: Sorry guys. This chapter was pretty short and all, and I know it's not the best. Good news, though! My birthday's on Sunday, so yay! I'll probably update around then since I'll hopefully be getting a laptop this year.

Anyway, thanks again to all of the reviwers/readers/favoriters/etc! It surprises me everytime I get a review, favorite, or anything else. I'm very surprised at the positive feedback, but at the same time it makes me happy to know that quite a few people enjoy this story. Thanks a lot guys.

Sorry if this isn't written to the best of my ability. We're reading Romeo and Juliet in my english class and my brain is dripping out of my skull. Just trying to talk in a normal way is becoming a tad bit more difficult, so to negate the effects of it showing up in my writing, I have started to narrate my entire life. Odd, I know, but it helps. Not only that, but my beta, AnimeOtaku31821, is out of town so she couldn't check it over for me. I read over it several times, but I still can't find any errors left. If you do, inform me and I'll fix it.

Hope you enjoyed and please review! Don't worry, I'm not going to hold the story hostage and demand reviews. That's just mean. See you all next time!

Elizabet639


	7. Odd Predicaments

OH man guys! I am sososososososososososooooooo sorry this chapter is late. I'll come up with an explination below. xD

"Talking"

_Thinking_

**Inner Being such as the Kyuubi or Sakura/Ino Inner Selves.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Odd Predicaments

_What hit me? _The thought crossed his mind, but he couldn't remember the exact details. He sighed under his breath and stared at the sky. He figured he didn't really need to get up just yet since the danger had probably passed. However, if it was still around, moving would no doubt attract its attention. Therefore, the lazy ninja decided to pretend he was still knocked out.

After around a quarter of an hour, he was starting to feel a little stiff and hungry, not to mention slightly bored. The foliage above blocked his view of the clouds so there wasn't much else for him to do except twitch his fingers every few seconds. The finger that was currently being stretched out was lightly let back down to the ground but another finger did not rise in the pattern that had been established. The man's body went rigid, but then he quickly relaxed it and closed his eyes to somewhat resemble being knocked out. Hopefully this new source of energy approaching would not look too far into his position or he would more than likely be in trouble. Gears in his mind were already turning, formulating a plan based on several different factors.

"Neji-san! I think I found Shikamaru!" The familiar voice called out while a small stick was jabbed into the ninja's side several times.

"Alright, alright! Stop that, will you?" Shikamaru lazily said while pushing the stick away from his side. Lee immediately jumped back in astonishment. He stared at the stick in his hand and then at Shikamaru. He repeated the action several times before Shikamaru grumpily asked him what he was doing.

"This stick…" he mumbled, "it must be very youthful!" He yelled while pointing at it. Shikamaru looked at him with a surprised look. _Can he seriously be that stupid? No, I don't think that's possible, even for Naruto or Lee. _However, as Lee continued to rant about the stick's youthfulness with a sparkle in his eye Shikamaru realized that yes, Lee really could be that stupid.

Shikamaru let out a sigh as Neji and Tenten appeared to check his wounds and ask him about the current situation. The lazy ninja filled them in on everything he knew, but he honestly couldn't say what had happened to Kabuto or his teammates for that matter. "I was knocked out before everyone else, which is probably why I came to my senses sooner than Ino or Chouji," he mumbled before yawning. Neji and Tenten let him plop himself onto the ground while they went to find Ino and Chouji, who were both gathered next to each other by Lee. Of course, he was using the newfound youthful stick to try to wake both of them up.

"Lee-san, it's not going to work," Tenten muttered and sighed before getting into a bit of an argument based on why and how the stick was not youthful. Amusing enough as the conversation was, Neji eventually separated the two and had them help with Chouji's, Ino's, and Shikamaru's first aid. Luckily, they had few injuries, and even those were minor. After just a few moments both teams were prepared to leave for Konoha. Nobody bothered to create a formation and instead Neji took the lead and they all jumped away.

* * *

"What do you mean, 'you don't know?!" the girl demanded

"Gomen, Sakura-chan! I really don't remember! I swear. Why? What happ—ow! What was that for?!" a teen asked as he rubbed the newly acquired bump on his head.

"Why? WHY?! You are such an idiot!" she yelled again, nearly hitting the poor boy yet another time.

"Oi, oi Sakura! Don't hurt him so much!" another man tried to calm the rampaging girl down.

"I don't think Naruto can handle too many more hits like that…" a pale boy commented more to himself.

"He can suck it up!" Sakura yelled back at the pale boy. To prove her point, she hit the blonde on the head again.

"Itai! Sakura-chan! What was that for?!" the blonde hunched over and tried to protect his head from further injury. The form quickly sat back up though. "Neji?" He turned his head to stare at the Hyuuga prodigy. Both Team Gai and the Ino-Shika-Cho team appeared around the same time. Immediately the two main rivals got into a loud, obnoxious fight.

"Forehead! How could you let Sasuke-kun get away?!" Ino yelled, obviously not over her crush on Sasuke. Shikamaru sighed and turned his attention to the other blonde in the vicinity. He was currently clutching the top of his head tightly while trying to cover his ears. Shikamaru didn't really mind the yelling equivalent to a banshee's, but he remembered that Naruto had been gone for three years. His ears must have become adapt to hear a wide range of frequencies, but even Sakura's and Ino's yelling had to strain his ears.

"Ino-pig!! What do you mean how could _I_ let him get away?! What did _you _do to stop him? Eh?!" she yelled back in an even louder, higher pitch. Naruto, at this point, had both of his ears covered and was singing an odd song to himself. It wasn't really a song, just a chant of "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" in a slightly musical tone. Shikamaru walked over to him and looked down in pity at the blonde.

"Oi! Just ignore them, makes everything easier," he advised Naruto.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have enhanced hearing. All I can hear is a ringing unless someone with a lower voice talks!" he threw at the pineapple shinobi. After a moment he returned to his small chanting. Shikamaru stood back up, but he was too lazy to intervene so he didn't. Instead, someone else did which caused the two to stop immediately.

"Your fighting is so youthful!" Lee interjected with flames in his eyes.

_**No… No way he just said that… **_both of the girls' inner beings thought at the same time. They turned and looked at each other. With that glance, a message was passed between the two as only could happen between two former best friends with a similar hatred toward a certain green-clad shinobi. Lee was soon staring at two evil glares sent in his direction. His spirit died down a little but the glares just added fuel to the flames. "How youthful to gain up on my one spirit!"

"Lee," Neji warned his teammate, "I don't believe that's a very good idea…" he tried to stop Lee, but yet again he had gone on a youthful rant. This, of course, just contributed more and more to the girls' anger.

"It's like the stick! Your youthful powers are absolutely astonish—" Lee landed several feet away after both girls had finally had enough. With a quick punch from both of Tsunade's students, for however short a time, would easily make someone fly that far. Naruto laughed lightly and took his hands off of his head. As long as the two 'women' weren't fighting anymore his ears probably wouldn't suffer much more damage. Sakura's face lit up with an idea after another moment or two of fuming.

"Oi, Ino-pig," Ino protested at the name but Sakura continued regardless. "Can you help me take a look at Naruto? I don't know what's wrong with him, but he needs more healing and I'm out of energy," she confessed while Inner Sakura was yelling at Ino and congratulating herself for something odd.

"Naruto, eh? Hm. I don't want to, but I suppose I owe it to him for giving Sasuke enough damage to stall him…" she muttered to herself for a few moments before finally agreeing. Naruto cringed and a slightly scared look crossed his face. Sakura at least knew about the Kyuubi, but Ino had no idea. Not only that had managed to scare Naruto. According to Shikamaru and Chouji, Ino had developed a temper and even although she was now a medical ninja she could and more than likely would take her anger out on her patients. He gulped and wished for the best. "So what's wrong with him? Symptom-wise of course," she added since Sakura had already explained she didn't know the main reason for his illness.

"Well, to sum it up he's experiencing fatigue, aching, a fever, slow-healing wounds, and extreme after-effects of being stupid," she joked with the last 'symptom'. Naruto stuck his tongue out and turned to look at Ino who was busy staring at him and checking his body's normal functions.

After a few minutes, Ino was being a smartass again. "Well, Forehead, you left out a few symptoms. His heart rate is higher than it should be, but it's not yet high enough to be extremely dangerous. His blood pressure is also a tad high, but I'll say that's due to his diet of ramen. His immune system isn't even attacking whatever virus or disease he has either. Hm. He could just have a parasite of some sort, really. Nothing a few shots won't take care of. I'm sure he's been bitten by something out in these woods."

"Ino-pig, what parasites exactly do you think would cause that? I don't believe there are any in this area that would cause those symptoms in such a short time." Of course, now Naruto was freaking out. He never did like shots, even though he could stand being stabbed with a kunai. The anticipation of a shot being stuck into his arm was worse than a kunai. He would know when the shot was coming, so he would tense and expect worse than he would actually get. With a kunai he wouldn't normally know it was coming, but his mind would normally block out most of the pain regardless.

Ino's eyes slit while she thought for several long minutes. "There are none in this region that have been studied, but there always new species being reported, so how would you know?" Naruto sighed loudly and both girls snapped their heads in his direction. He smiled sheepishly and tried to look innocent but it didn't work. "Maybe we should do some exploratory surgery," Ino suggested. Naruto gulped and looked at Sakura for help. She just shrugged and decided it wasn't a good idea out in the wilderness. He would probably get an infection.

After yet another long talk they decided to go to Konoha and ask Tsunade to see what his problem really could be. She was, after all, a medical genius. Unfortunately for Naruto, they had deemed it a health risk for him to walk so he was stuck hitching a ride on Sai's back. Yamato's back was still sore so Ino, who now had a crush on the odd male that resembled Sasuke, had vouched that Sai should carry the blonde. Sai had no reaction to this so it was decided.

* * *

Tsunade paced her office and stared at the new dent in her wall. Maybe such strict punishment for Kakashi taking too long was a tad but of an overreaction, but the stress she had built up said otherwise. "I need a vacation from this Hokage crap," she muttered under her breath. A few more bottles of sake had found their way to become empty, even though she wasn't the only one drinking them.

"That's silly, Hokage-sama!" Kakashi joked. He normally held his sake well but since he was currently on pain medicine it just added to his drunkenness. Tsunade raised an eyebrow and laughed.

She laughed for a few more minutes before a knock was heard on the door. "Come in!" she yelled, oblivious to the fact that both the crate of sake and sake bottles were residing on her desk. The door creaked open slowly and a woman peeked her head in.

"Tsunade-sama, have you been drinking? Kakashi-san? What are you doing here?" A confused Shizune asked. Tonton walked in behind her, making his normal pig noises. Kakashi made an inaudible noise followed by a slight hiccup, which caused him to laugh for a few moments uncontrollably.

"Tsunade-sama is he?"

"Yeah, I gave him some painkillers and then he drank some sake. He ended up like that," she added shrugging. After she finished her current bottle she reached for another. Shizune's hand slapped hers away from the crate.

"I don't think either of you need any more sake. I heard that something was troubling you and that Kakashi had been sent to get your sake, so I was worried. Turns out I was right about that feeling," she muttered the last part. Tsunade just shrugged her off.

"It's true. Kakashi did go and get my sake since you were on a mission. He took too long so I punched him into the wall," she added pointing to the new dent in the wall. Shizune winced for Kakashi but remembered he had been given painkillers so she wasn't worried about that. Tsunade laughed out of the blue which scared Shizune a little. "It was easy to get him to drink some sake once he was drugged. He couldn't tell what it was so I told him that it was some water to drink and he drank it fast. After a little while he said that it tasted funny, but it affected him pretty quickly," she added with a laugh. "And just look at him now!" she commented while her cheeks were turning a slight rose color. Kakashi hadn't heard a word she said—he was too busy being entertained by flipping a spike of his hair. To him, it was one of the most amusing things he had ever done in his life. He giggled whenever it flipped and then popped right back into place.

"Are you sure he'll be okay? He is still recovering from his last mission…" Shizune mumbled before Tsunade interjected.

Tsunade laughed a little before finally talking. "Oh please. Everyone needs to have a little fun every once in a while. Anyway, why did you come here? You normally rest after a mission."

"Well I thought I should inform you that I could feel Naruto's chakra and Orochimaru's nearby each other." Kakashi looked up and mumbled a 'what' before his hair became even more amusing. Tsunade stared at Shizune in shock for a moment.

"WHAT?!" she yelled. A few guards ran into the office to see what had gone wrong and left immediately when they saw that she was angry… and a little drunk.

"Oi, oi! Don't be so loud!" Kakashi giggled lightly. Tsunade threw a glare his way before addressing Shizune.

"It has yet to reach the amount of time Gai told me, so I can't send out a squad. Do you have any idea what was going on?" Shizune just shook her head instead of talk. "Dammit!" Tsunade yelled before slamming her fist onto the desk again. She sighed and finally sat down. "For now there is nothing I can do but wait," she muttered.

"Tsunade-sama, it was probably nothing," Shizune tried to calm both herself and Tsunade down. Kakashi didn't need help since he was drunk and sprawled out in a chair.

* * *

"Sakura-chaaan, my legs hurt!" "Sakura-chaaaaaan, I'm hungrrrry!" "Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, I'm bored!" Several more sentences resembling these came out of the blonde's mouth until Sakura finally hit him on the head and glared at him.

"Shut up!" When she said it, even Sai stiffened from the tone of her voice. Naruto quickly shut his mouth before he would get pummeled even more.

"Let's rest for a few minutes," Yamato announced from the front of the group. As he looked around at the group, he realized that a few hours without rest was probably a little too harsh on the group of teenagers since they were all gasping for breath. He sweatdropped before pulling out a few tools to check their location. "Hm. I guess we're just a few hours away from Konoha at the least," he muttered to himself before placing the tools back into his pouch. After a few more minutes Yamato called all of the shinobi to attention. Of course, Lee immediately jumped up as 'youthfully' as he possibly could. "I've decided to send Lee ahead as both a scout and a messenger," he said handing Lee a radio. "Just contact us with this if you run into any danger and if you reach Konoha also tell us. Then I'll give you instructions on what to do after that," he added while placing his own radio on. "Go on," he urged Lee after he stood there for a few moments.

Lee nodded and yelled "Hai!" before disappearing into the deep foliage.

Yamato turned to face the rest of his squad. All of them had managed to stand up shakily except for Naruto who couldn't stand up. Neji had managed to heave Naruto up onto Sai's back even though Naruto really had detested loudly. "Well, we'll get going soon, but I figure Lee can move at a faster pace than any of us right now," he explained his action. The team nodded while Naruto made a strange face at his predicament. "Right, let's go as soon as everyone's ready." After a moment of grumpy mutters from the team they headed off towards Konoha.

* * *

Somewhere else in the large Konoha woods, a team of three was moving briskly through the foliage. The master led while two of his favored students followed. One was there for his master, the other there just to learn to seek out his own revenge. _Soon… Soon that body will be mine! _

* * *

Note: Okay, so basically what happened was that I got grounded, then I experienced writer's block. That happened a lot. Got grounded some more, had to do homework, worked and then got writer's block. Lame excuse, but I'm not gonna lie to you guys. I was a little lazy and didn't really work on it for a few days. Anyways, next chapter should be out Wednesday but expect it as late as a week away. Again, sorry it's late. Please don't attack me?

As always, I hope you enjoy this very LATE chapter ((SORRY)) even more than usual.

Elizabet639

P.S. I almost forgot, I set up a poll to see if you guys may want a pairing. If you do, go ahead and put it in a review or whatnot. If you don't want one, I'm fine with not having one. Just seeing what you guys thought about it. NO sasuxnaru or anything like that. Depending on the feedback for certain pairings, they may or may not be shown. It might just be some fluffy stuff between two characters, probably nothing serious.


	8. Communications

**I apologize in advance for the short chapter. Enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. For if I did, a certain person would not have died. Ever.

"Talking"

_Thinking_

**_"Kyuubi's mind-talk"_**

* * *

Chapter 8: Communications

"Kakashi, you are POSITIVE that you saw him in town?" Tsunade asked the now drunk man while shaking him back and forth. She tried to force him out of his stupor in many ways. She had punched him, slapped him a few times, even read him a passage from his book in a seductive tone. Still, Kakashi didn't snap out of it. She yelled out in frustration before slapping him again. Kakashi just giggled a little bit more which angered Tsunade even more. She quickly threw him back down into a chair before pacing the room.

"You're funny, Tsuande-baachan," Kakashi giggled as he copied Naruto's disrespectful nickname for Tsunade. This, in turn, caused Tsunade's anger to rise even higher. The only thing that stopped her from knocking Kakashi out of a window was that fact that if she killed him then she would never get her information.

She lowered her raised fist slowly and instead glared at Kakashi, who just mimicked the glare and laughed even more. Tsunade grinned and put her hand on Kakashi's chest, which made him blush visibly through his eye. She winked at him and then backed up to watch her work. Changing Kakashi's breathing rhythm from normal wasn't _too _hard, especially not for Tsunade. She considered it a drunk's punishment as Kakashi starting hiccupping uncontrollably. His body was trying to force him into getting his normal breathing rhythm back into place. However, each time he hiccupped, he laughed. In turn, Tsunade laughed since she knew it could be a while before this show was over…

* * *

Sakura, like Tsunade, was having a male anger her. However, instead of a drunken Kakashi, she had a wounded Naruto. Naruto could not, for even just one minute, find a reason to shut up. With every sentence that came out of Naruto's mouth, another vein could be seen popping out of Sakura's head in anger. This would normally scare any person that knew she had trained under Tsunade, but Naruto wasn't looking at her so he didn't notice. Sai, however, did. He didn't exactly want to get his head smashed in because Naruto was being an idiot. "Quit talking," Sai advised with a fake smile. Naruto glared at him and started talking even louder and more obnoxiously. It never got through his dense skull that Sakura was about ready to bust said skull in. He didn't notice until an icy glare was shot his way.

The owner of the glare talked in a very monotone voice to try and keep her anger from bursting out. "Naruto… You should stop talking here and _now_." She put emphasis on the last word and Naruto finally got it.

He shut his mouth and muttered a small apology before looking around. Unfortunately, the ADD ninja couldn't stand more than a few minutes without doing _something_. _**"Sit still brat!" **_Naruto eyes widened and he looked around for the source of the threatening voice. However, it didn't even seem like any else in his team had heard it. The knucklehead could have sworn he had heard that voice before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. _**"You aren't going to see anyone you know." **_Naruto's ears rang from the deep voice. "Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked quietly. However, when he received a cold glare that obviously stated to shut up or die, Naruto shut his mouth. _**"Why in the hell did the Yodaime put me in such a stupid container!? Does your brain even work?"**_

Naruto couldn't stand it anymore. "Sai, do you hear that?" When Sai shook his head in response Naruto sighed. _It must be the pain. It must be affecting my head somehow, _the knucklehead concluded.

Naruto swore he heard a sigh from inside of his head, but he figured that he had just sighed without realizing it. _**"Really, do you not recognize my voice? You've come begging for my help, little kit, anytime it got rough. Well, now you don't have to come begging. The seal has released enough that my chakra is running freely through you, which also gives me a way to… communicate," **_the voice hesitated on the word almost like it stung to say it, _**"with you." **_The blonde thought for a moment while the voice got exceedingly impatient. Once he finally figured it out, he stifled a gasp and yell.

"K-Kyuubi?" he asked in a scared tone.

"_**Shut up, kit! People will hear you and think you're insane. Just think and I'll be able to hear you fine." **_Naruto's eyes widened in shock after hearing that statement.

_So… you can hear everything I'm thinking? _Naruto asked, trying out the new way of communication to the demon within him.

Naruto could hear a musing sound come from within his mind. _**"That's the gist of it. However, I have to speak to talk to you. You aren't able to hear my thoughts," **_the fox explained.

_What?! So you get to dig into my mind but I can't into yours? _Naruto demanded narrowing his eyes. _I don't think that's exactly fair! _he whined.

"_**Oh shut up!" **_The Kyuubi yelled. _**"Don't complain about fair and unfair with me, brat! I was forcibly stuck into your body from that damned Yodaime. I swear, if he ever comes near me again I'll rip his worthless blonde head into scraps." **_

_He was blonde? _Naruto wondered to himself although the Kyuubi of course heard it.

"_**Listen for once, will you brat? Look, the real reason I even started a conversation, of all things, with you, is because it seems like your body can't handle nearly a full tail of my chakra running rampage through your chakra system. Tell these stupid ninja to hurry it up so you won't die."**_

_Why do you care? _Naruto asked slightly annoyed before he remembered why. _Oh yeah…_ Naruto thought before hearing a low growl emit from the back of his mind.

"_**If I had been placed in any better of a host, they wouldn't have to try and remember that if you die, I die!" **_the angry fox yelled loudly. Naruto heard it echo back a few times and realized that part of his mind must have been standing there with Kyuubi. However, the initial yell had been loud enough to give Naruto a painful headache. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and complained that they were traveling too slowly to his comrades. They reacted quickly. Sakura punched him in the head and Sai sped up to avoid the pink-haired devil. Yamato sighed and informed the squad to move at a faster pace. Lee had just radioed to say that he had reached Konoha. They were less than an hour away. _**"Perfect," **_the fox muttered low enough that Naruto had barely even heard it. _Huh? _Naruto asked the fox. _**"It was just the wind flowing through your ears. There isn't anything to stop them, now is there?"**_ the fox poked at Naruto. He even bothered to think that his container may not be that bad, with several years of intense training of course. However, as quickly as the thought had come it left.

* * *

Tsunade watched the knocked-out Kakashi for any signs of failing vitals. She knew he hadn't drunk too much, but it could be enough to overload his liver. After a few days without sleep, Tsunade found herself drifting off to sleep. However, as soon as her eyes closed and she finally felt relaxed the door slammed open. Tsunade jerked away and Kakashi mumbled a few incoherent words in his sleep. Shizune stood in the doorway while a gasping Lee stood behind her.

"Tsu…nade….sam…a," Lee panted for breath between each word as if he had just run a marathon not half a minute ago. Essentially, he had. Tsunade was already pissed off, and she just wanted to know why the hell Lee came into her office _alone._

"What is it, Lee?!"

"Naruto… team… coming… here… few… youthful!" Lee panted. Obviously, he had left out a few words but the meaning still came through.

"Shizune!" Tsunade barked and her apprentice nodded to acknowledge she had heard. "Gather any medic nins available and assess the health of every member in that team as soon as they arrive! Wait at the gates if you have to!" Shizune nodded and looked at her mistress.

"What about you, Tsunade-sama?" she asked, sure that she would want to tag along since it was Naruto's health they were talking about. He was seen as nearly a grandchild to Tsunade after what she had done for him, not to mention what he called her.

Tsunade threw a devious smile Shizune's way. "I'll be there, of course. I wouldn't miss out on this team returning for the life of me," she stated. Shizune nodded and ran out the door leaving a tired Lee and sleeping Kakashi behind with her mistress.

* * *

Yamato told the team to stop at the gates as soon as they arrived since Lee had radioed in once he had regained his breath thanks to Tsunade who gave him a drink from a sake bottle. The bottle had been washed out and replaced with water so Lee couldn't go berserk. She just hoped there wasn't a single drop of alcohol still in that bottle since Lee had gulped it down in about a minute. The team nodded all except for Naruto. After another hour of the pain inflicting chakra circulating through his body it had refused to work any longer so he had passed out. Of course, nobody had noticed since the blonde boy had become silent regardless. The Kyuubi would respond to any thoughts he had, so Naruto had tried his best to not think or speak, which of course had not worked for too long. The Kyuubi has unfortunately turned out to be a not-so-silent guest.

As the forest ended, a trail appeared that the group landed on roughly. After regaining their balance they ran full speed towards Konoha. Sakura and Ino were now both concerned with Naruto's medical condition, not to mention the hunger that was rumbling their own stomachs so they had managed to 'talk' the group into moving faster. That, of course meant they had threatened them with very unwanted consequences if they didn't hurry.

The gate was only about five minutes away at the speed they were traveling. Most of the team looked at the gate heartily; it would finally mean some rest and food. Chouji was focusing more on the latter than the former. "Why did Asuma-sensei have to stay in Konoha, anyway?" Chouji asked breaking the odd silence, except for the noises of panting from the few ninja that needed a break to catch their breath. The group stopped abruptly once the medical ninja Shizune has gathered approached the team. Tsunade, who was dragging Kakashi behind her at the back of the group, approached Yamato before even glancing at anyone else in the group. A few shouts could be heard from a medical nin or two while they were looking over the large group. Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Neji, Sai, and Chouji were told that they had minor injuries that should heal in at most a week or two. Tenten was told her injuries were not life-threatening, but deeper than the others while Naruto was the biggest fuss. Although since he was currently passed out the medical nins could not truly assess what had happened to put him in such a ruined state.

"Hm, so that's the basis of what happened," Tsunade mused after Yamato had filled her in on all the basic information. She looked over the group he had assembled and sighed. "Go turn in a detailed report and see me in my office later. I'll send some ANBU to find you," she added so he wouldn't show up randomly in her office. Yamato looked behind her to the swooning Kakashi and raised a quick eyebrow.

"What happened to him?" he asked looking over various rips and stains on his normally unscathed jounin outfit.

"He got drunk," Tsunade simply replied before walking over to her new patient, dragging Kakashi after her. Once she arrived she stared at Shizune who was busy telling the other medical nins not to worry. "What's wrong with him, Shizune?" she asked as usual, seeing as anything could be wrong with the knucklehead. Shizune lifted off symptom after symptom as she found them, but no illness or jutsu that Tsunade had ever heard of would cause all of the symptoms Shizune had listed off thus far. Tsunade, acting as the genius medical ninja she was, quickly ordered the others in everything to do. Naruto would be escorted to the hospital where he would immediately be placed in the ICU and be seen by the finest medical nin Tsunade had available. More than likely it would be herself and Shizune, but there were a few other well trained medics in the village that were more than capable enough of helping out in this case.

Tsunade turned to watch the two medics with a stretcher run off with Naruto and saw Sakura standing there both surprise and worry plastered plainly on her face. She walked up to her apprentice and placed her free hand on her shoulder. She was of course still dragging a drunken Kakashi behind her. "Don't worry," she said with sympathy. "This guy has survived heart failure with help from me and his own will to live. I doubt whatever's wrong with him will do worse than that," she added smiling. Sakura stared for a moment before returning the smile and nodding. Tsunade then took her leave and hoped that her words would ring true.

* * *

Unfortunately, as Tsunade walked through the doors to the ICU, she realized that even this could prove to be too much for the blonde. While all the monitors he had currently been hooked up to were being checked for any faults, Tsunade was checking Naruto's own body in correspondence to the machines. To all of their dismays, the machines were not lying. Most of Naruto vitals were unstable and jumpy. Tsunade wasn't sure where to start first, so she didn't decide. All of the medics in the ICU were called into the room and each was working on a separate part of Naruto to keep him alive. Tsunade was busy healing both Naruto's lungs and his heart, seeing as those would be some of the hardest to save. After a moment, most of his vitals were back to normal and several medics had left the room. Another moment passed and finally Tsunade heard the respiration and heart monitors return to normal. She breathed out heavily in a sigh of relief. She put a hand on the blondes head and shook her own. "How many times are you going to escape death before you turn twenty?" The now sleeping form didn't respond in any way, but Tsunade realized that was for the best.

Kakashi stumbled into the room, unaware that he was still slightly drunk. His mind seemed to work a bit faster though, seeing as he managed to construct a full sentence without tripping over the words. "What's wrong with Naruto?" he asked. Tsunade sighed and pulled up a chair near Naruto's bed and mentioned for Kakashi to follow suit.

"All I have to say is that something is wrong, but we don't know what it is yet. He probably knows and was too stubborn to tell anyone so I'll have to wait until after he wakes up to find out," she informed the drunk. He sat and thought for a few moments before talking again.

"It's easy to wake him up," he mumbled before standing up. Tsunade's arm grabbed his wrist and pulled him forcefully back down into his seat.

"He needs to rest!" she told him sternly.

"Well, this guy can sleep after we figure out what's wrong with him," the lazy jounin mumbled before standing up again. He leaned down close to Naruto's ear and whispered something that Tsunade couldn't pick up and before she knew it, Naruto sat bolt upright in the bed and looked around. After a moment his face sunk.

"I just had the best dream…" he said laughing. Kakashi joined in and Tsunade just glared at them.

"Fine, well, since you finally woke up, I have a few very important questions for you," the Hokage said menacingly. Naruto gulped as he realized his current location.

"H-hi, Tsunade-baachan?" he asked more than said with a lopsided and scared smile and a nervous laugh.

* * *

Note:** Sorry that this was so short guys. I had everything in there I wanted, and I don't want to give too much away for the next chapter, which should be pretty good. As always, I wish for some reviwers or maybe a voter or two for the poll I have on my profile. Again, feel free to answer as anonymous or anything as a review. Anything works for me! Really though, I do wish for a bit more critique if any should be given. Now then, on to another subject. I have decided to go ahead and not update every Wednesday or Thursday ((as you may have noticed)). I've decided now to update on the weekend, regardless of which day. It should normally be Friday or Saturday. As always, hope you enjoyed! Please R&R.**

**Elizabet639**


	9. Admitting the Truth

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. As if that wasn't obvious.**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

**_"Kyuubi talking"_**

* * *

Chapter 9: Admitting the Truth 

"Now then, what do you have to say for yourself?" the woman asked while tapping her foot from impatience.

"Huh?" the figure sitting up on the bed asked, completely unaware of how frustrating the woman's day had been so far. He cracked open an eye and glanced up at the woman. He quickly stuttered and tried to put together a sentence. "I-I-I-I I mean uh…" the blonde searched for words but he wasn't entirely sure of what Tsunade was asking. "What's going on, anyway?" he asked changing the subject quickly after catching sight of his drunken teacher.

"Hm?" the woman turned her head to look and just shrugged. "He got drunk," she explained again. Was it really that weird for a perverted jounin like Kakashi to get drunk? Tsunade instead returned her attention back to the blonde genin. "What I wanted to know was why in the world is your body in such a bad condition? Not to mention the fact that just a few minutes ago you were close to death and not a single diagnosis could be made. Explain yourself," she demanded with a cold glare.

With a nod, the blonde genin defended himself. "I got into a fight," he mumbled since he didn't want to tell Tsunade what was truly wrong with him, "with Sasuke. I let my emotions take control andthenIlettheKyuubitakecontrolagain," he mumbled while gaining speed. His words had jumbled into one long word that Tsunade was having trouble deciphering.

"Talk like a normal person, Naruto!" she finally barked after another moment of the incoherent grumbling.

"G-gomen!" Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. He figure if he was quick enough he could make a run for it out the window, but then again his legs were tied down to the bed. He struggled against them for a while, but Tsunade promised him that he wouldn't be able to get out. A moment of silence had gone by before Naruto realized that he was supposed to be talking. "Oh, uhm, well…" he started to mumble again and before he knew it Kakashi's masked face was in front of his.

Showing his genuine smile through his eye, Kakashi finally spoke after Naruto stared at his teacher. "I can't heeeeeeaaaaarrrrr you!" he giggled. The alcohol still obviously hadn't left his system. Naruto blinked once or twice and started to laugh. However, once Tsunade's glare once again was shot his way, he stopped and took a deep breath.

"Tell us using normal speech," Tsunade threatened and Naruto just pouted.

"Why should I?" he asked turning his head away in a bratty manner from the Hokage. His mind was changed drastically when a chair flew out the window and scattered glass throughout the entire room. With a scared look on his face Naruto finally told his story. "… and that's basically what happened," Naruto finally finished. Of course, he had left out a few details, like how the Kyuubi had talked to him and how he knew that the seal was really quite weak. He didn't think it was too important so he had left it out.

Tsunade's eyes were closed and she was deep in a current thought process. "You're saying that you don't know what's wrong with you?" she asked after finally opening her eyes. Naruto didn't speak for a minute but instead nodded his head. Lying wasn't something he enjoyed doing but it was crucial to him. Tsunade sighed again and shrugged. "Well, with the condition you're in you aren't going anywhere." Naruto gulped and nodded. "However, we'll probably have to do some investigating to see what could possibly be wrong. You're positive it has nothing to do with the seal?"

Naruto tried to come up with a believable lie but it was hard considering his position. She had asked directly the question he wanted to avoid. "Well?" Tsunade pressed the issue and Naruto reached his breaking point.

"The seal's even weaker now…" he admitted without looking either of his elders in the eye. He gripped the blanket tightly in his hands when he realized that it was mostly his fault that Sasuke got away again. _I'm too weak… _he thought closing his eyes.

"_**Oh, please. More of your whining? Get over it," **_the fox chimed in. There was, however, no sympathy in his voice. He was just tired of the kid getting caught up because he couldn't save his so-called friend. _**"Instead of moping, go and train and get better, baka."**_

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. This brought some odd looks from the others present in the room. "The seal's weaker?" Tsunade asked looking at Naruto's abdomen. "Let me see," she demanded and Naruto complied. He lifted up the black shirt he was wearing to the bottom of his chest. He didn't look at it, but he heard Tsunade stifle a gasp and absolutely nothing from Kakashi. Because of Tsunade's gasp, Naruto couldn't help but look.

The seal that they saw was fully exposed even when Naruto wasn't concentrating his chakra, which of course wasn't a good thing. However, the area that the seal was touching looked red and raw. Tsunade reached out and touched it, which caused both of the blondes to wince. Tsunade quickly pulled her hand back from the area since it burned to touch and Naruto put his shirt back down.

Tsunade thought for another moment while Naruto was having a conversation with Kyuubi. They were both interrupted when Kakashi said, "Oi, you're both uncharacteristically quiet." The masked ninja shrank back when they both glared at him for interrupting. "Besides," he said, pointing at Naruto stomach, "why don't you just get Minato-sensei to fix it?" Naruto stared at Kakashi blankly, not entirely sure who this Minato was while Tsunade shot a death glare at Kakashi.

"Baka! He's been dead for nearly sixteen years now! Don't tell me you got drunk enough to forget that," she nearly yelled. Naruto blinked a few times surprised by the ominous growling noise he could hear.

"Eh?! Minato-sensei's dead?" Kakashi asked astonished. Tsunade sighed and nodded. "When'd that happen?!" Tsunade sighed again and decided not to get involved any further. Kakashi pressed further for an answer, but Tsunade was about ready to knock him out so he quit.

"Tsunade-baachan," Naruto spoke up after a minute, "who's this Minato guy?" Kyuubi had been ranting on and on about how he wanted to rip the bastard apart and wasn't listening to Naruto who had already asked the demon who the hell Minato was.

Tsunade drew in a deep breath before starting. "First off, Minato was the Yodaime. You should know everything about that since he's one of your idols."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, that explains a lot…" he mumbled which earned him another odd look.

"Explains what?" she asked and Naruto reacted with a shrug.

"I was just wondering," he answered, wishing the Kyuubi would shut up. _Stupid fox, shut up already! _he yelled at the fox again although it was to no prevail. As the fox grew louder, Naruto gripped his head with one hand to try and stop the upcoming headache. Tsunade noticed and instantly glanced over at the monitors that showed no problems. She shrugged and guessed the act of thinking was a bit too much for him at this point.

_He could be suffering from post-traumatic disorder too, _she thought but threw it to the back of her mind. "You're saying the seal is causing the damage to your body," she finally said and Naruto shook his head.

"Not the seal, rather the chakra coming out of the seal. It's a large amount, I think he said about a tail," Naruto stopped and realized the mistake he had made. Tsunade raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Who's this 'he'?" she asked Naruto who just smiled and laughed while trying to come up with a lie.

"Ummm, Neji?"

"And how would Neji know how much chakra is in a full tail of the Kyuubi?"

"He's smart?"

"Tell me what's really going on, Naruto," she demanded and Naruto admitted defeat with a sigh. However, the Kyuubi didn't want his little secret to get out.

"_**What the hell are you thinking, brat?!" **_he finally burst in from his Minato rant. _**"Do you really think explaining to her your situation is the best idea?" **_Naruto supplied a yes to Kyuubi disappointment, but Kyuubi was an expert at manipulating humans. _**"Really? I'd think you would enjoy having my help during training. If I get sealed back up, that's not going to work. What if they seal me off from you completely, gaki?!" **_The Kyuubi didn't let any desperation enter his voice. He had finally found a way to communicate with his container that didn't involve Naruto loosing consciousness.

Naruto sighed outwardly, trying to think of what was best to do. _Yamato told me to fight with my own power, _Naruto countered. This caught the fox off guard.

"Naruto? Is something wrong? You haven't been talking," Tsunade grabbed one of Naruto's shoulders out of worry. When she did that, he finally snapped out of his trance.

"Hehe, sorry Tsunade-baachan. That guy I was talking about before," he said tapping the side of his head, "is the Kyuubi himself!" he said laughing.

"_**Brat get in here! I'll kill you!" **_the Kyuubi yelled while ramming against the bars holding him back. He realized that the bars actually moved this time, if only a little bit. The laugh echoed around the chamber and made Naruto shiver.

"WHAT?!" both of the adults in the room were astonished. "How in the world is he talking to you? Did you go to the chambers of your mind again?" Tsunade asked while checking his temperature. It was quite possible he was delirious and was just hearing a voice he knew. Naruto shook his head and laughed.

"Right now he's threatening to kill me if I get near him," he said as proof. "That fox didn't want anybody to know the seal was that weak." Tsunade stared at him as did Kakashi.

"Y-you can't be serious…" Kakashi mumbled. Tsunade shook her head and stared at Naruto still. He just laughed more.

"If that's true then we'll have to seal him up even tighter than the Yodaime had originally planned," Tsunade informed Naruto. This sent Kyuubi into another rampage that Naruto did his best to ignore. She glanced over at Kakashi. "Now you have to come out of your stupor, Kakashi," Tsunade warned him. "I really need to know if you did see Jiraiya in town today."

Kakashi giggled for a minute and nodded his head. "Yup! I saw the infamous author of Icha Icha books out near a bar while I was getting your sake, Tsunade-baachan!" the masked nin smiled.

"Eh? Ero-Sennin's here? I thought he left after I went to save Gaara," Naruto exclaimed. Tsunade shook her head.

"He stayed for a while even after that mission. He explained to all of us about the fourth tail. Well, just Yamato, Kakashi, and I were indulged in the information. After that I thought he left too, but apparently he's still busy with his 'research' here in Konoha," Tsunade sighed. "I'll get some ANBU to track him down or something," she shrugged before placing a small pill in front of Naruto. "Take it," she instructed.

Naruto glared down at the pill but finally picked it up. "What does it do?" he asked before sticking it into his mouth and swallowing it.

"Two things. Depletes chakra is the first," she said which got Naruto's attention. "The second is that it also acts as a sleeping pill. I just came up with it a while ago, so I hope there aren't any side effects. All experiments have been a success, but you aren't exactly a normal person," she added. Naruto glared at her for a moment before a glazed look covered her eyes.

"Why'd you give it to.. me… then…?" he asked while he found himself getting sleepier. The fox protested and tried to get him to wake back up but it wasn't getting through his thick skull.

"Well, mostly for the first reason. Without the Kyuubi's chakra, you should have less damage inflicted onto your body if my diagnosis is right. The second reason is an added bonus. This way you won't become a problem like usual. I actually created this medicine for Sakura to use since she had requested it," Tsunade added while watching the genin's eyes close. Soon enough he was happily asleep so she dragged Kakashi out of the room.

* * *

"Oi, pervert!" Tsunade yelled out to her fellow Sannin. "What the hell are you doing in Konoha?!" she yelled before punching him into a nearby wall. He deserved it though; he had been peeking into the woman's bath before Tsunade managed to find him.

Jiraiya managed to get up and dust himself off. "Research," he said simply. "Why does it matter exactly?"

Tsunade looked around to see a crowd had gathered. "Not here, once we get into my office I'll tell you," she said before grabbing Jiraiya's wrist. Now she was dragging two white-haired perverts behind her. As she walked furiously along, the two began a conversation and it continued until they reached her office.

The Godaime slung the two men down into chairs, slammed the door shut, and finally sat down at her own desk. "There's a problem," she said seriously.

"Well, that's a little obvious," Jiraiya said while crossing his arms. "But why do I have to be involved? You interrupted my research."

"It's Naruto," Tsunade said which managed to grab Jiraiya's attention. "Well, it's more the seal," Tsunade added because of Jiraiya's scared look. She had seen it before, right before she saw the Sadaime tell Jiraiya that Yodaime had given his life to save the village.

Jiraiya let out a sigh of relief. "I thought you were going to tell me Akatsuki had gotten him," he laughed. "However, I'll need to talk to Naruto myself to see the extent the seal has weakened," he added after abruptly stopping his laughter. Tsunade nodded and told him which room Naruto was in and that he would currently be sleeping. Jiraiya laughed again as he left. "I'm sure I'll be able to find him," Jiraiya said loudly before closing the door behind him. _Naruto, what did you do this time? _

* * *

Naruto refused to open his eyes. Every time he was in the hospital and woke up he was nearly blinded by the bright light. _They should really fix that, _he thought while the smell of cleanliness filled his nostrils. He didn't mind the smell, but it wasn't as comforting as the smell of ramen. He cracked an eye open and quickly shut it. "Dammit, I knew that would happen too," he admitted and covered his eye with his hand.

A laugh filled the room and Naruto shifted his head to the right. He cracked open his eye to see Jiraiya staring back. "Ero-Sennin?! What are you doing here?!" Naruto demanded while opening both of his eyes. Again he was nearly blinded, but it wasn't something he was worried about.

Jiraiya laughed even louder. "A certain lady told me about your condition. I've come to investigate," Jiraiya informed Naruto. It was obvious what he wanted, but Naruto, as usual, acted as dumb as a rock.

"Huh?" he asked and Jiraiya laughed a little more.

Jiraiya knocked on Naruto's head and sighed. "You don't have much up there, do you?" he asked while laughing. He suddenly grew very serious. "What's wrong with the seal?" he asked suddenly.

Naruto had a much easier time telling Jiraiya things about the seal than with Tsunade. "It's even weaker than before," he said before showing it to his teacher. "See? Kyuubi says there's about a full tail of chakra running rampage through my chakra system. He says it's too much and it's destroying my body," he added before putting his shirt back down.

Jiraiya nodded. "Did he tell you in the sewer like usual?" Naruto shook his head.

"He's yelling at me right now, actually," he added tapping his head. "Somehow he's able to communicate with me using my thoughts or something like that. I wasn't really listening to him," Naruto admitted.

"What did you do, Naruto? The seal was never supposed to get this weak," Jiraiya interrogated Naruto until he had gotten the information he needed. "To tell you the truth, Naruto, I don't think I can help you out this time," he admitted with a sigh. Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"Wh-why not?! You've been able to weaken it before, why can't you just do the opposite?" Naruto asked desperately.

Jiraiya sighed and put a hand on Naruto head to ruffle his hair a little bit. He normally didn't do that sort of thing, but he could see so much of Minato in him he had to do it as his Godfather. "First off, don't worry. Tsunade and I will come up with something. I doubt I can do anything because your body has become quite dependant on the Kyuubi's chakra and I don't know how far I could seal it before your body would start to die. Chakra is a life source, remember, not something that can be used sparsely," he said and took his hand out of Naruto's blonde hair.

"But if it keeps on going like this, I'll die, won't I?" Naruto asked while putting a hand gingerly over the raw skin that held the seal. Jiraiya finally sat down in a chair and nodded his head.

"Knowing Tsunade, you'll be stuck in the hospital for quite a while, probably more than just half a year," he added for emphasis. "But yes, at the rate the chakra is leaking out, I'd say you'd die. If not, the Akatsuki will easily be able to trace that chakra signature and capture you. Which will of course mean confinement to the village," Jiraiya explained but he caught sight of Naruto's surprised look and quickly explained. "However, if I can I will find a way to get the seal fixed so it won't have to happen like that."

Naruto nodded and rubbed his head. "Kyuubi's being loud," he explained upon seeing Jiraiya's look.

Jiraiya looked over his student and realized that even though the room was fairly cold and the sheets on the bed were thin Naruto was sweating profusely. "Do you have a fever or something?"

Naruto looked over at his teacher and shook his head. "I don't think so. I feel fine, really. Except for the pain part," he added laughing.

"Hm, well, I'll go talk to Tsunade about an alternative solution. In the meantime, try not to do anything stupid, alright?" Jiraiya joked before sliding the door open. _And please don't use anymore of the Kyuubi's chakra, _Jiraiya added mentally while stalling in the doorway. "I'll be back," he added and shut the door behind him.

Naruto stared at the doorway for a moment before smiling. _'Don't do anything stupid', huh? _Naruto thought smiling. He could hear the Kyuubi laugh in the back of his mind.

"_**What are you planning, brat?" **_the Kyuubi asked. Naruto effectively ignored him and looked toward the window. Then he glanced back to the door and laughed. He reached over to the table where his ninja tools were stored and got to work on the rope that was tying him down.

_I'm planning on getting out of here, _he thought while cutting through the rope. It was thicker and harder to cut through than he thought it would have been. _I hate hospitals, _he added as he finally sliced though the rope. He jumped from the bed and quickly changed back into his jumpsuit even though it had several holes in it; he had planned to run home before training anyway. Not to mention he was hungry and needed some Ichiraku to gain his energy back.

Naruto glanced around the room again to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Once he deduced he hadn't, he opened the window and easily jumped down to the ground. He was only on the second floor.

* * *

"Jiraiya, that's not exactly a rational idea," Tsunade retorted to Jiraiya's plan. Kakashi nodded, finally over his drunken stupor.

"I guess it makes sense, but wouldn't it put Naruto in danger?" Kakashi asked while rubbing the bridge of his nose to kill his hangover headache. "Tsunade-sama, don't you have any pain killers?"

Tsunade glared at Kakashi. "Not for you," she told to Kakashi before turning her attention back to Jiraiya. "He would need to be watched, and what if it didn't work? I doubt he'd agree to your idea, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya sighed and crossed his arms. "There really isn't any other way. He was, after all, a seal master. He would know what he was doing!"

"That doesn't mean it'll work!" Tsunade yelled. "He's your godson and he's nearly a grandson to me. I don't want to do it Jiraiya."

"You and I both know that out of anyone, he's the most likely to bring him back!" Jiraiya retorted.

"Oh, uhm… what are we talking about again?" Kakashi interrupted. Both of the Sannin glared at Kakashi until he backed down. "G-gomen nasai…" he mumbled to himself.

* * *

**Note: Bwahahaha, I'm so evil. D I left a cliffie. Sorry if any charries were OC, I tried to make them as IC as possible... Anyway, I now have two votes for yes, there should be a pairing. However, this was just to assess what you, the readers, want. I don't really know yet if I will or will not have one. Also! Jiraiya's 'brilliant' plan will be explained next chapter. Well, I hope you enjoyed! **

**R&R as always. ((yet again, never holding this hostage, but it would be nice to get some more reviews, ya know?))**

**Elizabet639**


	10. Jiraiya's Plan

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Obvious much?**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

**_"Kyuubi talking"_**

* * *

Chapter 10: Jiraiya's Plan

The Sannin made sure to slam the door behind him after leaving the Hokage's office. "It'll be hard to convince him, that's for sure," he mumbled over his own footsteps. He could see a few problems with his plan of action, but Tsunade had countered everything good that could come of it with some terrible side effect.

"Geez," he sighed, "how am I supposed to get that knucklehead to agree?" the old pervert wondered while leaving the building. He sighed again and realized this could be harder than he originally thought. Deep in his own thought process he didn't notice that Tsunade was having yet another fit until the chair landed in a shower of glass in front of him.

"What do you mean he left?! Who in the hell does he think he is?! That little brat!" Jiraiya easily heard Tsunade and he was afraid for both his life and whoever's life she was talking about. "JIRAIYA!!" she yelled and he stopped in his tracks.

"What now?" he asked after finally making it back up to her office.

"Naruto left the hospital of his own accord," she informed him while a few shinobi behind her were trying to fix the window.

Jiraiya sighed since he had assumed Naruto would do something like that. "I bet I know where he'd be," Jiraiya said thoughtfully before leaving.

Tsunade called out after him, "Jiraiya! Please, make sure he's okay. And get him back to the hospital so I can give him the punishment he deserves!" Jiraiya couldn't help but smile and nod his head before leaving.

* * *

"Shut up already!" Naruto gasped and grabbed his head. "I mean, really. I'm training! It requires concentration!" he mumbled before sitting upright again.

"_**Concentration? Last time I checked you had to get help from a pervert to even understand the meaning of the word," **_the Kyuubi taunted Naruto. _**"Besides, all of my bickering in good for you. You can't concentrate on a battlefield in private, can you?" **_

"Oh, shut up!"

"_**How many times do I have to tell you to think and not talk to me?"**_

"More than you have," Naruto whined and finally tried to concentrate more chakra. "Itai!" Naruto bent over to try and dull the pain. "Quit doing that! Damn fox!" he gasped again while the fox laughed.

"_**Stupid brat, I'm not doing anything," **_the fox retorted. _**"What does that fact that your chakra is nearly nonexistent in your own body do you not understand?" **_

"All of it," Naruto said before lying back in the grass. "I mean, isn't chakra a life source?" Naruto paused until the Kyuubi offered a yes. "So, if that's true, then how am I still alive?" he asked.

The fox sighed and wished he didn't have to explain again. _**"Get it through your big skull," **_he threw another insult. _**"What really happened is that since when that damn Yodaime sealed me into you your chakra coils were not fully developed which meant that my own chakra was developed into yours. Understand?" **_Naruto shook his head and fought for a steady breath.

"_**A child's chakra coils do not develop until they turn a certain age. The age varies from child to child depending on the parents and many other factors," **_he explained further. Naruto nodded; he understood at least this much. _**"However, when I was sealed into you, your chakra coils had yet to develop. Basically, I directly helped, in a sense, the development of your chakra."**_

"Oh!" Naruto finally understood. "So then even if my chakra gets completely depleted, if you can give some to me I'll live?" Naruto asked, not even entirely sure what he meant.

"_**Hold on, I'm not done explaining. In this fashion, your body has the ability to handle large amounts of chakra circulating through it at one time. However, there is also a downside to this," **_the fox added. Naruto begged for more information so the fox provided it. _**"The major downside is that now your body has become dependant on mine," **_he explained.

"What's so bad about that?" Naruto shrugged, not seeing any major drawbacks to that.

"_**Well just the fact that if my chakra was not being supplied to your body you would die is a pretty good example of a drawback, isn't it?" **_the fox sighed. Naruto nodded.

"But how does that work?" he finally asked, curious to know.

"How does what work?" Another voice chimed in before the Kyuubi could respond. Naruto turned around and jumped up, prepared to attack if need be. "Oi, oi! Don't get so hasty," Jiraiya offered before sitting down on the cool grass.

"Ero-Sennin… What are you doing out here?" Naruto plopped himself down on the grass in a similar way.

"Well, Tsunade would kill you if she found you before I had. Hm, actually, she'd still probably kill you," he laughed. "Naruto," he said which caught the blonde's attention. "Well, never mind that for right now. Tell me what it is you're doing out here first," he changed his mind.

Naruto nodded and gladly told his side of the story. "Well, first off, I hate hospitals. Too clean," he offered and Jiraiya nodded his head. "Besides, I can't be cooped up in the place for half a year! I need to train and get better and bring Sasuke back!" Naruto explained himself.

"Naruto, you don't know the extent of how bad of a condition you are in, do you?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto nodded and explained due to the look he received from Jiraiya.

"Neji told me that the chakra was basically ripping apart my body. But then the Kyuubi told me that he could try to control how much came out! It's not like he really is or anything, but maybe… Anyway, I got out of that hospital to train and learn how to live with this condition," Naruto smiled a foxy smile and laughed a little.

Jiraiya sighed again and decided to tell Naruto his idea now. "Naruto, there could be a way to fix the seal." Jiraiya didn't keep eye contact with his student for the next few sentences. "I talked to Tsunade about it, and we could only think of one way that could possibly help."

"Well tell me! What is it?!"

Jiraiya sighed again with a smile on his face. "Fine, but hear me out before making a decision. It could very well kill you, which is why you have to agree before Tsunade will even think of doing this," Jiraiya said. Naruto nodded his head eagerly and Jiraiya explained thoroughly what his plan was.

Naruto blinked a few times. "So that's all I have to do?" Jiraiya nodded. "Well, I don't know why you guys picked me to do it, but… I guess I can't say no," he said. "I could, but that wouldn't exactly go along with my nindo!" he forced another smile. At the mention of doing something like _that_ for the one person that had managed to ruin his childhood his mask had started to slip.

With a happy sigh, Jiraiya continued. "You do know the possible consequences of doing this, right?"

Naruto smiled. "Other than maybe dying? Yeah, I think I get it," he answered sarcastically. "But, why did you guys pick me?" Naruto had to ask.

"Well, mainly because you'd probably find him before anyone else could. You have certain connections with him," Jiraiya explained.

Naruto's eyebrow raised and Jiraiya knew he wouldn't be able to avoid his student's questions. "Why? How am I connected to this guy?!"

"Let's just get back to the hospital. Tsunade will explain everything in more detail than I can."

"_**Brat, where the hell do you think you're going?!" **_Naruto rubbed the side of his head to try and force the headache out. Ever since the Kyuubi had started communicating with him he had started to get more frequent and worse headaches.

"To the hospital, like Ero-Sennin said," Naruto muttered back at the fox. Jiraiya turned around and looked at his student with concern, but Naruto just smiled and muttered that he had just been talking to himself. Jiraiya just nodded even though he had his own suspicions.

"_**What about training, eh? Don't you want to save your friend?"**_

"I do, but is that more important than getting you out of my head?" Naruto asked the fox who just growled in response. "Besides, this shouldn't take more than a few days. Then, I'll be able to train more and get better and finally be able to bring back Sasuke!" he smiled.

"_**Shut up! Geez, somebody is going to think you're insane! How many times do I need to tell you before you get it?"**_

"Naruto? Are you sure you're okay?" Jiraiya turned around with a concerned look on his face.

"_**Told you," **_the fox stated in a confident tone. Naruto nodded at Jiraiya and once he had turned around muttered smartass under his breath. _**"Just think, would you?" **_

_It's hard to, _Naruto struggled, _but really, with you making so much noise it's hard._

"_**Quit whining!" **_Naruto gripped the side of his head again.

"Stop being so loud!" he whispered harshly. Jiraiya made a mental note that Naruto could very well be going insane.

"_**Quit talking!"**_

"I thought I said stop being so loud!" Naruto forced his voice down to a whisper even though citizens of Konoha were staring at him like he was crazy.

"_**Baka! I said quit talking, so quit talking!"**_

"If you would stop yelling I could stop!" This time, Naruto had no restraint to his voice. The citizens and Jiraiya stared at him, although their stares varied. Some stares were hateful, one was worried, and many others were curious. Naruto replied with a nervous laugh until Jiraiya finally snapped out of it.

"Come on," Jiraiya muttered and grabbed Naruto's wrist. "Let's just go somewhere _without_ making a scene for once."

"It's not my fault! The Kyu—" Naruto was cut off when Jiraiya slammed a hand over his mouth. Muffled noises came from him, and once he finally stopped Jiraiya removed his hand.

"Look, people don't need a reason to hate you so don't give them one. If word gets out about this, there's no telling what these people would do to you," Jiraiya muttered while dragging Naruto behind him.

After mumbling an apology Jiraiya finally let go of Naruto. "Just keep your mouth shut the rest of the way, alright?"

_You don't know how hard that'll be, Ero-Sennin, _Naruto thought before nodding his head. The fox was silent for a few moments but soon started the rant over again. Naruto sighed and restrained himself from yelling and/or grabbing his own head.

* * *

Tsunade tapped her foot impatiently and glared at the door. "Ts-Tsunade-sama…" Shizune mumbled, "Please calm down. I'm sure they'll be here soon!" Tsunade turned her glare to Shizune who quickly backed down. After returning her glare back to the door for a few more moments, she could hear quite a commotion going on outside.

"I said shut up!"

"Calm down, Naruto! What is wrong with you?"

"Once you stop yelling I will!" there was a short pause. "You have to be kidding me! You shut up first! If I shut up, you'll just keep going! Aaaaaah! You're giving me a headache already! Just quit!" The voice was easily recognized as Naruto.

"Hm?" Tsunade mused, wondering what in the world he was going on about now.

"Naruto… come on, stop yelling!"

"I'll stop once he stops!" Naruto retorted.

_How far away are they? _Tsunade wondered. _And who the heck is this guy that's yelling at Naruto? _

"Naruto!" Tsunade finally recognized the second voice as Jiraiya. She could hear the desperation in his voice and she could clearly pick out the tacking of feet running. Tsunade raised an eyebrow and opened the door.

"Oi, Jiraiya! Naruto! What the heck is going on?" She asked and sighed when she saw what had happened. Jiraiya looked up to see Tsunade with her hands on her hips and a murderous look on her face. He hoisted the now unconscious Naruto onto his back and looked at Tsunade.

"Well, it's a long story, but I think we should look after him first." Naruto was shifted on Jiraiya's back so that it would be more comfortable for Jiraiya.

After a moment Tsunade sighed and nodded. "Fine, after checking up on him, you're going to tell me the full story." Jiraiya nodded and followed Tsunade the short distance to Naruto's room and watched while she silently healed him.

Tsunade shat back in the chair near his bed a few minutes later, completely satisfied with her tying down and healing of Naruto. "Idiot pushed himself too far," she mumbled before turning her attention to Jiraiya. "Now then, what's the story?"

Jiraiya sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. "I found Naruto in a clearing in the forest that he had deemed his training ground. When I did, he was already talking to the Kyuubi. Really, though, at the time it just looked like he was talking to himself," he corrected himself.

"I told him about the idea and he agreed, but we might have to tell him about Minato to get him to actually do it," Jiraiya admitted before looking at his godson. Tsunade caught his gaze and also looked at the boy.

"Well, he should be perfectly fine, unless of course he doesn't manage to come back. It is risky, but I will be supervising his condition at all times," she added to try and calm Jiraiya down.

"Listen, you won't be able to show your face in Konoha until he wakes up. This room will not be accessed by anyone except me and I'll tell the council that you and Naruto have gone on a simple mission that could take up to a week," Tsunade made up the plan as she thought it up.

The Sannin paused for a moment. "Will I be able to visit him?" he asked softly and looked up at Tsunade who sighed.

"It might cause some trouble, but I'll see what I can do. Otherwise, only Yamato and Kakashi can know his location and condition. I don't need word of this getting out." Jiraiya nodded and they both decided to wait until Naruto woke up before continuing the conversation.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes and instantly wished he hadn't. "What am I doing back here?!" he asked before trying to move his hands to cover his eyes. "Huh?" he asked before trying to move again. Again, he found that he couldn't move. After struggling for a few minutes he heard laughter.

"Tsunade tied you down, I don't think it'll be that easy to get out," Jiraiya said.

"_**I can get you out, it won't be hard at all!" **_the fox spoke again which gave Naruto another twinge of pain.

Tsunade spoke up next. "So you actually agreed to Jiraiya's 'plan' of action?" Naruto nodded his head slowly and Tsunade continued. "Well then do I need to go over it?"

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune pitched in, "I haven't heard what this plan is, but I'll help in any way I can!" Tsunade sighed and guessed that she would have to explain it.

"Alright, well then here goes. As we all know, the Yodaime died while sealing the Kyuubi within Naruto. However, his soul is not truly in the land of the dead, but somewhere in-between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Unfortunately, this will only be true if my research is correct," Shizune nodded to show that she understood.

"Also, the only one that could be enough of a seal master to fix this seal without killing Naruto is the Yodaime. Therefore, we need to retrieve him from between these two worlds. Now, in the oldest medical books I could find, it just so happens that when a person was in a coma they were considered to be between life and death, hanging only by a thread."

"What does that mean?" Shizune asked her mistress.

"Simple. It means, theoretically, that if a person was put into a coma they would be in the same plane as the Yodaime," Tsunade explained. "It would be much more likely for Naruto to find the Yodaime within this plane than any of us."

"I still don't see why I'm the most likely candidate," Naruto whined.

"Well, for a few reasons," Tsunade muttered while searching for a way to best explain it to Naruto. Jiraiya looked over at her with warning in his eyes. She understood the message and decided not to tell Naruto. "One is simply because being in a coma should slow down the damage being inflicted onto your body. Another is because of your own willpower. With that, I think both your body and mind can survive on two different planes. And the third reason is that with your determination, you probably won't give up until you find the Yodaime."

Naruto nodded and accepted the reasons without a question. "So, when do we start?"

* * *

**Note: Whoa! Who was expecting that? Well, officially Scars of a Martyr has 10 chapters, which I am proud of. So, regarding the pairing, I don't really know if I will or not. I might have some fluffy stuff between a few characters while Naruto is in the coma, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. Anyways, that's all I have to say for today.**

**R&R as always!**

**Elizabet639**

**P.S. I promise Naruto won't be this stupid for too much longer. **


	11. Time

**Ugh...**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

**_"Kyuubi talking"_**

* * *

Chapter 11: Time

Tsunade thought for a minute before answering Naruto. "Anytime. Sooner would be much better than later, so hurry up and decide," she firmly told the other blonde.

"I'll do it!" he decided before his stomach rumbled. "But first," he asked with a large smile on his face, "can I get some ramen?" Jiraiya laughed at the look on Naruto's face and then looked over at Tsunade.

"Well, I'm not paying for you," Jiraiya said as he remembered the last time he had to pay. Naruto laughed lightly and Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not paying either. Shizune, you don't want to," she told her apprentice. Naruto's grin fell a little at the statement.

"I can pay for myself!" he claimed while he struggled against the ropes.

Tsunade thought for a minute and watched Naruto. "Actually, I think it would be healthier if Naruto didn't eat before being placed into a coma."

"Ahhhh! You have to be kidding me!" Naruto whined.

"_**Shut up! Geez, I can only stay quiet for so long when you whine." **_Naruto mentally twitched; the damned fox hadn't spoken for nearly an hour.

_What's your problem? _Malice was present in Naruto's thoughts, but the Kyuubi didn't really care.

"_**My problem is you! All you ever do is whine and complain. Geez, if this stupid gate," **_Naruto was startled when he heard the fox slam himself against the bars, _**"wasn't in my way I'd be free."**_

_Well I'm going to be happy that you're still stuck behind there, _the blonde smirked.

"Naruto? What's wrong?" Tsunade placed her hand on Naruto's forehead to check for a fever. "Well, nothing seems to be wrong," she muttered but Naruto didn't reply in any way. He had his eyes closed tight and it looked like he was trying to concentrate. The look on Naruto's face was easily recognized by Jiraiya. In the two and a half years that Jiraiya had been training Naruto, he had come to know him better than anyone else.

"Naruto, it's not the right time nor place to be doing that," Jiraiya warned him. Naruto peeked an eye open and glanced over at his teacher.

"But, Ero-Sennin…" Naruto whined again. Jiraiya just shook his head which produced a sigh from Naruto. "Fine," he muttered and broke his concentration.

"_**See brat?! I can always outwit you," **_the fox laughed which just managed to piss Naruto off even more.

"Why you… I'll get you!" Naruto muttered ferociously.

The fox laughed deeply for a minute before finally answering. _**"Baka, I wouldn't do that if I were you." **_

"Huh?" a genuine clueless look passed over Naruto's face. "Why?" he asked in a whisper.

"_**Geez, I have to say it again?! Baka, they will think that you're insane and not fit to go under this medical procedure." **_Naruto's eyes widened a bit and he sighed out.

"Fine, I guess I don't really need to eat before I do this. Besides, it shouldn't be too long before I wake up, right?" he asked while laughing. Tsunade smiled and nodded, even though it was a fake smile. She looked over at Shizune who just nodded; it was obvious what Tsunade wanted. The door slid open and both medics stepped out to gather the needed medicinal supplies.

Naruto, having forgotten that Jiraiya was still in the room, let his mask slip completely. A frown filled with concentration among other emotions was shown and his head dropped so that his eyes were covered by his hair. Jiraiya stood back quietly and watched, careful not to give away the fact that he was there.

"Is this really wh—" Jiraiya heard Naruto mumble until the air conditioner kicked in. It was an old system that managed to block out all other noises so no longer could Jiraiya hear Naruto. However, being the pervert he was, he had learned to read lips. The skill had become quite handy. However, Naruto was barely moving his lips, so it was harder to put together words.

_What…_Jiraiya pieced one word together and several followed that he couldn't recognize. _Shut up _became an easily placed phrase several times in the next few minutes. Finally, the obnoxious noises stopped and once again Naruto's mumbling could be heard much easier.

"I understand what you're trying to say, and I agree. I don't want to save this guy that much," the blonde muttered almost silently. Yet again the toad sage was happy that his 'skills' could be used somewhere other than the girls' bath. "No, I'm not letting you—" the jinchuuriki mumbled before cutting himself off. "Quit doing that, it's not helping anybody's situation." Jiraiya's legs were starting to get tired but he ignored that fact and continued to eavesdrop on his student's one way conversation. "No, I'm doing it so you will leave." The toad sage now felt his body swaying a little bit, but he refused to move. So far Naruto had yet to notice him and he wanted to keep it that way.

A sharp intake of breath was barely heard by Jiraiya before Naruto looked up and glanced in his direction. "Dammit," they both murmured before respectively returning to normal. Naruto placed his mask back on quickly and tried to laugh the incident off, while Jiraiya stared at his student. After Naruto realized that his normal approach to this problem wouldn't work, he let out a sigh and his mask dropped again.

"I'm sure you'll want an explanation, just like the Sadaime did when he found out, huh?" Naruto asked, sure to keep his voice down. He only wanted Jiraiya to hear what he had to say. To his surprise, Jiraiya shook his head.

"I don't need an explanation. While teaching you I've learned enough about your past. Listen, the only way you'll be able to come back from being half dead," Jiraiya said while walking to a nearby chair, "is to actually _want _to find yo—the Yodaime and bring him back for yourself, not just for other people." Naruto sighed and nodded.

"Why would I want that guy back? He sealed the fox into me, and what did I get for it?! Everybody despised me, just because of that," Naruto was surprising himself; he had only told a select few what he really thought and this time it was rushing out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

Jiraiya sighed out and hoped that he wouldn't have to revile everything to Naruto before the day ended. "Naruto, he never meant to do that to you. He wanted everyone to look upon you as a hero."

"But that's not how it worked! Why me, of all people? It was probably because I was an orphan that nobody would have cared about regardless."

"Naruto! You had just been born." Naruto's eyes widened at Jiraiya's statement but it made sense.

Naruto hung his head to hide his eyes again; the familiar stinging was bothering him. "Then why?" he asked more to himself to anyone else.

"There were a few reasons, but I think you should find the Yodaime and ask him yourself," Jiraiya answered. The door slid open and Jiraiya looked immediately at Naruto; he had already put his mask back into place. A distinctive clack came from Tsunade putting down a few medical supplies on a metal tray. However, Jiraiya wasn't ready for her to start just yet. "Tsunade," Jiraiya mumbled, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

Tsunade placed the rest of the supplies down gently and walked out after Jiraiya. The door slid shut and Tsunade looked at Jiraiya. "What is it?"

"I'm worried."

"And so am I. He could never wake up," Tsunade said sternly.

"Not about that," he surprised Tsunade. When she stared at him questioningly he realized she wanted an explanation. "Well, has anyone with two souls ever been placed into a coma?"

After a moment of thinking, Tsunade answered, "No, not that I'm aware of. Why? You don't actually think that—"

"I do," Jiraiya interrupted. "It is plausible. Without a soul to control his body, Kyuubi could very well escape from his subconscious and control his body."

"…" Tsunade was silent for a few moments until Jiraiya grabbed both of her shoulders. "Should I put him through this?" she murmured to herself.

Jiraiya placed a finger under her chin and made her look at him. "I think it'll be good for him. But with only a few people aware of his condition, we wouldn't be able to stop him if he would happen to rampage."

"It would be best to try and fix the seal first by ourselves, wouldn't it?"

"No, we wouldn't know what we were doing. The Yodaime created the seal himself; let him fix it." The hallway had nearly cleared, but there were still several people present within a good hearing distance. Jiraiya wondered if anyone had overheard their conversation but that thought was thrown aside when he felt Tsunade's shoulders start to quiver. He wasn't sure if it was because she was cold or what, but what he did know was that she needed him to comfort her.

When Tsunade found herself in the pervert's embrace, she wasn't sure what to think or what to do. So, she naturally took her normal approach to such a thing. "You pervert!" she yelled before punching him away. It wasn't the hardest punch she could muster, but it wasn't gentle either.

"Man, you sure are hard to comfort," Jiraiya muttered as he pulled himself out of the wreckage that was previously known as a cart. Several onlookers scooted away fearful for their own lives, and a few others stayed back with wide eyes. Only Shizune sighed and walked away; this was a pretty normal day for her.

"Please don't kill him, Tsunade-sama!" She yelled over her shoulder before she turned a corner. Tsunade stood up and brushed off her clothes, completely disregarding Jiraiya's new need for medical attention. She slid open the door to Naruto's room yet again but this time saw a very surprised and guilty looking Naruto.

Glancing around the room, Tsunade easily placed that Naruto had moved his bed, grabbed a sharp object from the tray of medical supplies, and had started trying to cut himself out of the rope. "Dammit, that _was_ sterile."

Naruto smiled sheepishly and looked out the door. "What was that just now?" he asked regarding the loud crash he had heard after a muffled shout. Tsunade shrugged.

"Coulda been anything. Now then," she mumbled while picking up a large tube, "do you want me to place these uncomfortably into your body before or after I place you into the coma?"

Naruto gulped. "After?" Tsunade placed the tube gingerly back onto the table and grabbed a large amount of pills.

"Welcome to your medicine induced coma," she said after placing the pills in front of Naruto. He looked down at his hands and then up at the rope tying him down. Tsunade turned around to stare at him. "Well?" she asked sternly. Naruto glanced past her to see Jiraiya hanging onto the door sill for dear life.

"Tsunade, dammit, you broke my leg."

"Please. It's nothing more than a fracture. Maybe a pulled muscle."

"You punched me into a metal cart!"

"Doesn't mean your leg's broken."

"You're an evil medic."

"I get that sometimes."

"Damn Tsunade…"

"Why the hell did you hug me anyway?"

"You were shaking!"

"It's freaking cold in here! Have you heard that ancient AC?"

"Who can't?"

Naruto tried to stifle a laugh while the two Sannin fought. It even reminded him of Sakura and himself a little bit. "Hey, Tsunade," Naruto asked. He was surprised when both adults stopped mid-sentence to listen to him. "I can't take the pills at this rate."

"Why not?" Tsunade snapped.

"I'm tied down to the freaking bed!" Tsunade laughed a little and then untied the poor blonde so he could take the pills.

An urge to run filled Naruto, but he forced it away. _**"Kit, don't do it! You don't have a reason for yourself to find this guy, so you won't come back."**_

_You obviously missed out on a very important conversation, _Naruto replied but he set the pills down for a minute. The two Sannin didn't notice as they were back to arguing. _Why do you care anyway? I probably won't end up dying. Well, my body won't anyway._

"_**I do not know what will happen with this procedure. I may be pulled into the plane between living and dead with you, which would be quite troublesome," **_he mumbled before clawing at the cage.

Tsunade looked over at Naruto and noticed that he was either distracted or deep in thought. It was probably the first, but she didn't know his true potential. "Naruto, do you want to think it over for a day before trying this?" The blonde didn't respond. Worrying, Tsunade gently placed a hand on his shoulder and he immediately straightened up and blinked.

"Huh?" he asked groggily, almost as if he was just asleep.

Tsunade sighed deeply and repeated herself. "We don't need to do this so quickly. We could try other ways of fix—"

"No, I'm fine," Naruto smiled at her. "I just don't know if I should do this just yet," he murmured. "Maybe I'm just over thinking this situation." Tsunade was puzzled by Naruto's words.

"I never thought I'd hear Uzumaki Naruto utter those words. You always act on your gut instinct, don't you?" Naruto nodded in response. "Then just do that," she smiled.

Naruto nodded and looked down at the small pills. "Is this all it takes to put me into a coma?" Tsunade shook her head.

"No. Those just knock you out hard enough so that I can put tubes into you and _then_ place the drugs directly into your bloodstream that will put you into the coma," Tsunade explained. With each new piece of information, Naruto winced for himself.

"Sounds painful, but my gut says to do it!" he smiled before swallowing the pills hard. "How long until they start working?" Jiraiya stared at Naruto and instantly had regrets for his student.

"Give them a minute or—" Tsunade stopped mid-sentence when she heard the bed nearly jump off of the floor. "That was fast," she muttered before glancing over at Jiraiya. "Unless you feel like helping, get out."

"I'm leaving," Jiraiya said quickly before limping out of the room.

"I could've used the help," she muttered to herself, "but he wouldn't have enjoyed it at all." With that, Tsunade set to work.

* * *

**Note: Yeah. Sorry if my writing kind of goes a little crappy from now. I have caught an illness. Anyway, the plot will start moving soon and I hope it'll grab people's attentions. Well, hope you enjoyed! Thank you to the people that have reviewed and such. R&R please. **

**Till next week, Elizabet639.**


	12. New Introductions

**Note: Sorry it's so short! I'm pressed for time this week. I promise a better one next week!**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

Chapter 12: New Introductions

Tsunade shut the door gently behind her. "That was exhausting," she mumbled before walking down the hall into the waiting room. The room itself was nearly empty, which surprised Tsunade. The academy was having some simple training missions so she was sure at least a small line would have sprung up from parents worrying about their child's simple wounds.

"You're done now?" Tsunade turned to the familiar voice to see Jiraiya sprawled out on a couch, which really wasn't a surprise for her.

"Well, mostly," she sighed out. Jiraiya opened his mouth to talk but Tsunade spoke before he could say anything. "We just need to keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can keep all of the staff here at the hospital out of that room," she admitted shaking her head.

"You mean Sakura?" he asked.

Tsunade nodded. "She's my apprentice, what can I say? She sees a suspicious locked door and she busts it down. However, a new member to the hospital team, Hyuuga Hinata, might try to get in too. I don't think she'll bust the door down, but she'll be able to tell that it's Naruto behind that door."

"She's a medic now?" Jiraiya asked sitting up. Quite a bit had changed while he had been gone.

"Not a medic exactly, but rather a pediatric nurse for the time being. However, both her medical skill and prowess could push her to be a medic before too long." She glanced down the corridor that contained Naruto's room. "The pediatric ward is down that hall; she walks past that door everyday.

"Still, she's a shy one. I don't expect her to even ask about it," Tsunade stated. "Ino might try something, but that's just because someone she knows is always here. Whether it's a family member, a teammate, or someone she barely knows she visits. I guess life at the flower shop is a little too boring for her," Tsunade finally finished her list.

Jiraiya humped and shrugged. "Regardless, I doubt any of them will try anything too hasty," he said. "But then again, I don't know them like you do, Tsunade." Tsunade just nodded and looked away.

Silence consumed the waiting room and Tsunade hastily made it look like she was busy. The hug Jiraiya had given her earlier was still fresh on both of their minds; although neither knew it.

"Tsunade-sama?" A nervous voice broke the awkward silence. Both of the Sannin jumped at the noise but let out a held breath when they saw it was only Hinata.

"What is it, Hinata?" Tsunade turned to look at the nurse. She was wearing her normal jacket since her several pairs of nurse scrubs were all back in the pediatric ward.

The Hyuuga's fingers tapped nervously in front of her before she finally asked, "Did N-Naruto-kun return fr-from his m-mission? I t-though that I-I sen-sensed his p-presence earlier t-today…" she finally trailed off.

Tsunade, feeling that she should help the poor girl, placed a reassuring hand on Hinata's shaking shoulder. "Don't worry, Hinata. He came back but he needs to rest," she supplied as a somewhat true answer. Hinata just nodded and murmured something incomprehensible before walking down the hall to the pediatric ward.

Jiraiya watched her the whole way, as the pervert he truly was. He could have sworn that the head family member stalled in front of Naruto's door. Then again, it was hard to watch from his position.

"Cut it out!" Tsunade punched him in the back of the head which consequently landed him on the floor. "And don't tell me that that was for research," she muttered before walking off. "Go to the clinic to get your leg looked at. I don't have time today."

Jiraiya stared after Tsunade's receding figure and she could sense it. "If I turn around and you're staring at me, you'll have to go to the ER and then the ICU." Jiraiya gulped and averted his eyes quickly. Although Jiraiya wasn't aware, a smile appeared on Tsunade's lips.

* * *

Sakura walked briskly down the hospital; according to the message she had gotten from Hinata, Naruto was there. "What did you do this time?" she muttered to herself. She could already hear a few people engrossed in conversation about a certain blue 'insane ninja dressed in black and orange'. She arrived at the hospital to find it surprisingly empty. Lately Tsunade had been giving out missions left and right. However, a Nurse pulled her aside and reminded her of her shift today.

"Sakura-san, your shift starts soon, remember? I believe Tsunade-sama gave you clinic hours today," the nurse informed her. Sakura sighed and nodded.

"Alright, I'll be there," she muttered already in a bad mood. However, she walked down to the pediatric ward instead. Hinata said there weren't too many injured Academy students today so she could find some spare time to speak with Sakura.

Sakura passed several doors before she reached one that made her feel uncomfortable. A shudder forced its way down her spine and Sakura decided that she needed to look into the room. However, when she did try the door didn't budge. She looked up at the number—256—and memorized it for later.

"Sakura-san!" she turned her head to the pleasantly familiar voice. Hinata stopped only a few feet in front of Sakura by skidding to a halt. When she lost her balance Sakura gently caught her friend's shoulders and helped balance her out.

Sakura looked into Hinata's frantic eyes. "What's wrong, Hinata?" A pale finger pointed at the door to room 256. "I'm getting a weird feeling from it—"

"It's not a feeling!"

"Huh?"

Hinata blushed deeply but continued. "I can feel—and see—Naruto in that room! But, it's very faint and I don't know what could be wrong with him," she said strongly with no waver in her voice.

Thanks to three years without Naruto around, Sakura, Hinata, and Ino had all become very close friends. After nearly two years, Hinata had finally begun to talk normally. Ino and Sakura were glad, but as soon as Naruto returned or when she was around an elder, that stutter would return.

A mischievous grin came to Sakura's face and Hinata feared for the wall's safety. "Sakura-san! Please, don't do such a thing. We both have shifts we need to fill and we can always talk to Tsunade-sama about it later." Sakura let out a defeated sigh.

"Hinata, if it weren't for you Ino and I would have gotten into a lot more trouble than we already have," she smiled. Hinata nodded and waved a quick goodbye before running back from whence she came.

Sakura turned around and reported to the clinic. _I'm going to knock down that wall or door if Tsunade-sama doesn't provide the right answers, _Sakura thought harshly.

* * *

"Jiraiya!" one of the nurses yelled out. The old man looked up to see his eyes unsatisfied… again. Every nurse in the hospital wore loose-fitting scrubs to keep clean which was quite a letdown to the pervert. He sighed all the same and walked into the examining room.

"Jiraiya-sama!" he looked up to see Sakura which surprised him. "Regardless," she threw whatever comment she was going to say away, "it seems that you were… punched in a metal cart and are now experiencing some leg pain?" she asked before placing his chart down. "How in the hell did that happen?"

"Long story short I pissed Tsunade off," he explained.

Sakura sighed and pointed at him. "You should have learned by now, really. Which leg?"

"Right," he offered. "And I couldn't help it," he mumbled while Sakura started to examine his leg for injuries.

"I'm sure you could have," she mumbled before testing his natural reflex. Jiraiya's leg shot out and he admitted that it hurt quite a bit. "Hm, seems like it's not a broken bone. Maybe a torn ligament or muscle. Pretty easy to heal depending on the severity," she said while placing his leg up on the table. He winced and Sakura scoffed. "Oh please. It's not even that bad of a tear." She looked again at the back of his leg and noticed a large bruise. "But that could become troublesome."

Jiraiya walked steadily out of the room and thanked Sakura for her troubles. Sakura checked the clock and after a few more patients her shift was finally over. Hinata had gotten finished a few hours ago, but she promised to meet Sakura at Ino's flower shop so Sakura decided to head there.

After a quick discussion at the Yamanako Flower Shop the three decided to go to the hospital to see if it really was Naruto in that closed room. Sakura knocked down the door to the room as quietly as she could and Ino caught it so that the noise when it hit the floor wouldn't resonate in the halls. All three of the young adults could not believe their eyes.

Various monitors nearly engulfed half of the floor while the actual sounds they made bounced off of the walls. Hinata stifled a fearful gasp while the other two stared in awe. Sakura was the first to move. She walked carefully through the mess of cords to the bedside. After she glanced down at him she could tell that he would not be conscious for a while.

"H-h-how b-bad is i-it?" a trembling Hinata asked. Sakura turned around and stared at her two friends.

"Well, it's not pretty but at least he doesn't look injured," Sakura said quietly. The three friends were soon all staring down at Naruto's limp form. Both Ino and Sakura could tell that Hinata—even paler than usual—was debating throwing herself onto his chest and crying.

"What are you three doing in here?!" All three turned quickly to stare at the Godaime.

"I, uhm… well… that is…" Hinata stammered and started to tap her fingers nervously.

"Flowers?" Ino asked.

"The door was open?" Sakura pointed at it. Tsunade picked up what used to be a steel door.

"I doubt _this _was open!" she yelled and pointed to the dent in the middle. All three of the friends laughed nervously. To their relief Tsunade sighed and walked over to them. "Look, it's all for a good cause. I'm sure he'll eventually wake. Until then, you three, and _only_ you three can visit this room," she said before handing each of them a key to the room. "Don't fret too much about his condition. I myself am watching over each and every move he may or may not make."

The three friends nodded and turned back to the blonde they all admired in some way or another.

* * *

The darkness was too much to cope with. Naruto stumbled and tried to find his way through the pitch black expanse that was stuck between life and death. "How the hell am I supposed to find the damn Yodaime here?!" he yelled out in frustration to no one.

Naruto sighed. "Was this really the best idea? Sure, I can't feel the pain anymore, but I can't see at all. It will be impossible to find anybody here. I can't even feel my chakra current…"

* * *

**Note: Again, so so sorry for the short chapter. My exams are next week and the teachers have been handing out piles and piles of homework to study with. So, I only got to write a few times and this is how I had to end the chapter. After exams, though, I should have a lot more time to write so it should get longer. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Thanks for reviewing ((as always)) and everything else. Please read and review!**

**Elizabet639**


	13. Unlucky

**Don't you just love puns? XD**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

Chapter 13: Unlucky

The eerie blackness was oddly quiet and truthfully scared the blonde to an extent. He could deal with a demon fox that controlled untold power, but the dark was not a strong point of his.

"Dammit," he muttered as he yet ago forced himself to stand up. "What the hell am I tripping on?" he asked himself.

His own voice echoed dramatically back from the darkness but he found it comforting to hear something. Apparently the fox hadn't somehow traveled here with him since no sarcastic remarks had been heard yet.

The gloomy darkness really was destroying any attempt Naruto had made to actually think positive thoughts so now he was wandering around, probably in a circle. Maybe even a square. "Dammit!" he yelled again as he fell flat on his face. "How in the hell," he muttered as he picked himself up, "could anyone stand this place for sixteen damn years?!"

* * *

A barely audible click resounded through the door and bounced off of the walls. The door swung open and was then shut quietly behind the figure. "It's been three days, Naruto-kun," a light voice said. The stutter was barely there, which Hinata could be proud of. The Hyuuga glanced beside her at the clock placed on the hospital bedside. It read 2:43 A.M. Hinata's eyes bulged slightly, but they quickly returned to normal.

"I haven't been able to sleep at all lately, you know," she started her one-sided conversation. A light laugh escaped Hinata's lips along with a smile. "Kiba-kun and Shino-kun are nearly ready to force me to sleep. It's really affecting my missions. Neji-niisan is worried too. Oh!" she remembered before continuing. "I brought you another flower today, Naruto-kun. It's bright yellow, like your hair," she commented before removing the old blue flower.

"Ino-san says that if I put wishes on each of these flowers that they might come true! Can you believe that, Naruto-kun?" Hinata smiled and placed the new flower into the small vase. "Where was I?" she asked herself. "Oh yes, I remember now. I really only worry about you, Naruto-kun. I always have," she finally admitted. "I guess I'm a little glad that you can't hear me," she trailed off into deep thought. "I've wanted to talk to you since you returned from training. I wanted to tell you about how I really feel!" she muttered. A deep blush covered her face but she fought through her shyness and continued on.

"I really admire you… Ever since you were little, I'm sure people were mean to you; I saw some of it with my own eyes. But you still fought your way through it. I always wanted to help you, but I could never bring myself to talk to you. I was too shy," Hinata barely whispered. "Whenever I'm around you I think my heart starts to skip beats it's so excited. Your presence scrambles my thoughts and I stutter," Hinata drew a deep breath and almost continued but the door opened so she shut her mouth.

"Hinata?" Tsunade asked with tiredness obvious in both her slurred words and her facial features. "What in the world are you doing up at—" Tsunade broke off as she looked at the clock. "Hinata, it's almost three in the morning! Haven't you gotten any sleep lately?"

Pale eyes stared at the ground and fought not to close. "Y-yeah. Neji-san had me get up early this morning for training but he let me come here to check in on Naruto-kun before we started for the day," she muttered to the floor. Tsunade sighed heavily but decided not to ask any further.

"Well I'll just check up on Naruto's condition and then I'll leave," she smiled back at the Hyuuga heiress. Said heiress smiled back and turned to stare at Naruto.

* * *

Sakura gently pushed the button on her alarm to turn it to snooze. After rolling over to stare at the clock she decided to turn right back around and go back to sleep.

_Beep! Beep! Beep! _Sakura turned around after a quick eleven minute nap. "Shut up!" she yelled at it.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura. You're talking to an alarm clock. Now get your butt up!" Sakura turned to glare at her proclaimed rival.

"Dammit, why? Can't I sleep in for once?" she asked groggily.

"Not until Tsunade gives you a day off and Naruto isn't in a coma. Now hurry up, will you?" Ino asked again.

"Shut up, Ino-pig," she retorted quickly before forcing herself up. "I just need a few minutes for the shower," she muttered. Her feet dragged across her bedroom floor and into the bathroom. The door shut with a large bang and Ino decided to wait elsewhere for Sakura to finish.

Sakura burst into the living room fully dressed and miraculously dry after only around twenty minutes. She glanced around quickly and ran into another room. Ino sighed deeply but got up and followed her friend.

"Sakura?" Ino asked her friend who was busy shoving food into her mouth. "What happened to your diet?"

Sakura turned around to glare at Ino. "Stress," she mumbled through a full mouth.

"All you're eating is junk," Ino added after a moment.

"I'm hungry!"

"Not anymore," Ino retorted before dragging Sakura out of the kitchen.

"What the hell?! I need food!" Sakura yelled loudly.

* * *

Naruto had finally managed to learn what he was tripping on—a long robe resembling type of clothing that had somehow found itself on his body. He shuddered at the thought of why he was wearing it. He put a hand over his chest to make sure that he was still alive, but he felt no heartbeat.

The sharp breath that followed the realization barely even moved his chest. It was as if he really wasn't alive at all. At this thought, Naruto began panicking. "If I'm not alive here then what's happening to my real body? Am I dead?" he wondered.

A footstep resounded from somewhere near him, as if someone was deliberately making themselves noticeable. "Who's there?" Naruto asked before taking a step forward. There was no reply; not even a footstep could be heard. Naruto sighed deeply but continued forward regardless.

Naruto, deep in thought, suddenly came across an idea. "Of course! I'll make some bunshin and then we'll all search for this guy!" he decided. He had unconsciously placed the mask back in place since it kept his thoughts from becoming too depressed in this darkness.

His hands formed the all too familiar sign and he yelled out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" just as he usually did. However, he didn't feel the familiar sensation of some of his chakra draining nor did he hear any clones appear. The part of his brain that never relied on his mask easily came up with the answer. "Chakra is a life force…" he remembered Jiraiya say those words and it became clear. "I'm not alive here so I don't have any chakra," he sighed out. "Well that just makes this a wonderful little quest," he mumbled to himself.

After another long amount of time, he couldn't tell exactly how fast time was passing here, he stopped. "Hey!" he yelled, hearing his own voice echo back to him. "Anybody here?!" he yelled out again.

"Stop yelling," a quiet and raspy voice told him before he felt a hand grab onto his shoulder. Naruto instinctively tried to jump away, but the grip was stronger than he expected and he couldn't pull away.

"Who are you?" he asked in a shaking voice. The voice laughed lightly and Naruto could almost swear that he had heard that voice before.

"Well, who do you want me to be?" the voice asked Naruto, as if it was a test.

Naruto smiled and hoped that his guess was somewhere near correct. "Well, I want you to be the Yondaime," he answered quickly.

"Ah, but that's just a title!" the voice replied with wisdom emanating from his very words. "You can't reveal a person's true potential until you learn their name, and the origin of it," the voice revealed. "Why don't you tell me your name?" he asked after a moment of consuming silence.

Naruto gulped and nodded. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to be the next Hokage!" he exclaimed proudly. However, just at the mention of his name the grip on his shoulder weakened and the voice had no reply. "Hey, are you alright?" Naruto asked the man.

"N-Naruto?" he asked in disbelief. Naruto couldn't figure out why this would be so shocking to this man. He seemed so wise and happy just a moment ago. "Please tell me you didn't give your soul up to the shinigami!" the man asked, now shaking Naruto by his shoulders.

"I didn't!" Naruto answered quickly and he heard the man sigh with relief.

"Then why are you here?" he asked Naruto quickly, his words almost blurring into one.

"To bring the Yondaime back to Konoha," he stated. This startled the other man.

"You can't do that," the man mumbled in a defeated tone.

"What do you mean? I have to! Otherwise Tsunade said I could die," Naruto explained. He had noticed that this man was for whatever odd reason worried about him.

"Tsunade said that? Well why would you die?"

"First off the seal of the Kyuubi is really weak. Since you made the seal yourself you should be able to fix it, right?" The man mumbled a possibly so Naruto continued. "Not to mention she had to put me into a coma just to get me here."

"**What?!" **he demanded to know. "Wh-why would she do that? And why would the seal be weak in the first place?"

"First off, it was the only way we could think of to reach this place. Secondly, I drew upon the fox's power too much and now it's leaking out more than expected," he said calmly. "But I don't have a clue on how to get out of here. Plus I don't even know if you are the Yondaime."

The man didn't reply for a while. "That doesn't matter. That man cannot leave here with you and neither can I. Neither of us have physical bodies to return to," he explained.

"Just tell me if you are the Yondaime or not."

"Well, yes. I am the Yondaime. But as your father I forbid you from taking me from this place!" Naruto stared blankly at where he thought the man was.

"M-my… father?!" he asked stunned.

"Did you not know?" the man asked.

Naruto had no answer. His mind was now scrambled and his thoughts were scattered everywhere. "You… you can't be my father…"

"Naruto, I am your father."

"No! You aren't!" Naruto had forced his mind not to accept the fact that his father could have been the one to ruin his life like he did.

"Naruto, listen! I am your father, but I didn't want you to know until you were ready to. I thought that by now you would have been ready," he said before grabbing Naruto's shoulders supportively.

"Ready?! How could I be ready? You don't know how I had to grow up. Without parents I was so lonely. And the villagers all despised my existence, and then all of their children learned to hate me too! All because of what you did the day I was born!" he yelled back at 'his father'.

"Dammit," the Yondaime muttered. "Nobody even bothered to fulfill my dying wish," he continued. "I wanted you to be a hero for carrying such a burden on your shoulders from your birth," he said firmly.

Naruto, even though he had been told this before, was still surprised by the information coming from the Yondaime himself. He was even more surprised when the Yondaime lifted his hands from Naruto's shoulders and embraced him. Naruto's first reaction was to push him away, but instead he tensed up for a moment. He still decided not to return the favor. He didn't know what to think of the man yet.

"So how exactly should I get out of here?" Naruto asked a few minutes after the embrace had ended.

The Yondaime sighed deeply. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I've been stuck here for… how old are you?"

"Almost sixteen," Naruto replied.

"So almost sixteen years now. But then again, you have a body to return to. Maybe I could somehow tag along and bind myself to your soul until we reach your body where I could seal myself there until we figure out what to do," he explained.

"I have no idea what you just said," Naruto said blinking. "But I guess it's not that important. As long as you know what you're doing." They both sat in silence, trying to think out a plan when Naruto felt a slight wave of pain pass through his body—or was it his soul?—and he had no idea why. He shuddered and was suddenly cold. His hands starting rubbing his arms and he shivered.

"What's wrong?" the Yondaime asked, having heard his breathing shudder.

"I don't know," Naruto said through clenched teeth. The cold was getting worse, and so was the pain. "But I'm cold and it hurts," he muttered.

"What hurts?" he asked, pressing Naruto for more details. The Yondaime couldn't be there for his child in the real world, but here he could at least try to help.

"Everything," Naruto shivered again. The Yondaime had no idea what could be wrong with him since he hadn't felt anything like heat or pain in such a long time.

_It couldn't be that, could it? _He asked himself. _Is my life really this unlucky?_

**Note: So I put in a fluff scene, but I am not going to make this a NaruHina. I have better plans than that. Anyway, I hope you all liked it! Thanks for all reviewers and etc. Now that my school let out just yesterday, I'll have much more time to work on this. However, since it is summer vacation, every chapter may now be on time. Don't be surprised if it's a few days late or whatnot. I might start updating on random days, too. Just depending on my mood.**

**Please Read and Review!**

**Elizabet639**


	14. Silence

* * *

"Talking"

_Thinking_

**I hope you all enjoy! **

* * *

Chapter 14: Silence

The hospital would have been in panic. That is, it would have been in panic if they knew of Naruto's presence within the hospital.

"What's wrong with him?" Hinata asked again from the corner of the room. However, only Ino heard her.

"I don't know, but they're making a big fit of it…" she mumbled while her eyes scanned what Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura were busily trying to accomplish. She glanced up at the monitors. Although she had nearly no idea what half of it meant, all of the screens were basically saying that something bad had just happened.

"Will he be okay?" the Hyuuga asked again. Her eyes were nervously scanning the room over and over again. Ino smiled gently but she had no idea. She wasn't as trained as a medic, and she didn't even have a job at the hospital. Hinata should've had a better grasp on what was happening than she did.

After what seemed like an eternity to Hinata, all three medics finally stood back a few feet from the bed. Tsunade turned around and forced a smile to her face. "He should be fine. His body was probably just reacting violently to being in one spot for so long," she joked. Tsunade managed to get to a nearby sink and wash off her hands.

"Will he be okay?" Hinata asked after a few moments of consuming silence.

"Sadly, Hinata, we can't be sure," Tsunade told her. "Not to mention very few people come out of a coma, much less with the same intelligence or motor skills they had before. Like I told all of you before, all we can is wait and hope for the best."

The room was engulfed now in an awkward silence, save the sounds the machines made as they performed their jobs. Tsunade could tell that she didn't need to stay in the room so she quietly took off her gloves and walked out of the room. Shizune followed suit and shut the door behind her so the other girls would not be disturbed.

Hinata turned to the door and mumbled something about a patient before walking out of the door. Ino stated that she needed to get back to the flower shop and left only a moment later than Hinata. Sakura stayed in the room, but hung her head in silence. After a few minutes she sighed heavily and walked out.

* * *

"Do you feel better?" the Yondaime asked through the darkness.

Naruto mentally checked himself over. The pain wasn't nearly as bad, but it was still present. Heat had returned to the core of his body and he was grateful. He couldn't stand being cold. Why else would he always wear that sweat suit in Konoha? He nodded his head slowly but then remembered that the Yondaime probably couldn't see either. "Y-yeah," he answered. _Why does he care so much? _The question had been circulating in his mind for the past few minutes but Naruto still could not find an answer.

"That's a relief!" The Yondaime said with a joyful sigh. He flashed a smile even though he knew that Naruto wouldn't be able to see. "I had no idea what was wrong. I hope your mom isn't too worried about you," he laughed. "She'll probably scold me when I show back up in Konoha."

Naruto fought not to laugh at the man. "My mother? I've been an orphan all my life, I don't know her." His voice sounded cold but he didn't care. He meant for it to sound that way.

After a few moments of stunned silence, the Yondaime muttered a 'what?' and then silence reigned in the darkness yet again.

"I've never known either of my parents."

"But she was…" Yondaime had stopped paying attention and was now trying to figure out what had happened. When Naruto had been born, he had to run out of the house in a hurry. He had been trying to save the village, after all. He fought to remember exactly what happened. "They told me she was fine…" he muttered while the memory slowly resurfaced.

* * *

_A small child was cradled in his arms. They were both crying, maybe even for the same reason._

"_I've already told them what to do after I'm gone," he attempted to soothe the child. It didn't work. "Kushina did tell me I'd never be a good father," he laughed lightly. A loud explosion rocked the earth under his feet and at least a dozen other yells could be heard through the noises of battle._

_The Yellow Flash pushed himself to his limit and got to his destination quicker than expected. "Yondaime-sama!" someone yelled out._

"_Sensei!" Yondaime looked over to see Kakashi running over to him speedily._

"_Kakashi, don't worry about me. Go and make sure Kushina is doing fine!" he yelled before running, yet again, to where he could face the demon for the last time. He knew he would only have another moment or two with his son. "Naruto, you'll be considered a hero for this. Harboring the demon within you is the best that anyone could ever do for the village. Don't let anyone ever tell you different." His attention was drawn to the large fox that was glaring in his direction._

_In the battle field, all Konoha ninja had been ordered to leave so they would not become a distraction or get in the way for the next tactic. Minato looked down into his son's face and saw two dark blue orbs staring back at him. A smile covered both of their faces before Minato finally performed the jutsu that would both end his life and any chance of a normal life for his son._

_Minato was hanging on to his life just to make sure that both his son and wife were still alive. His son was obviously still alive since he was yelling and crying as any infant would. A weak smile came to Minato's face and he turned his head ever so slightly as someone familiar ran up to him._

"_Sensei!" Kakashi yelled out in a panic. "A hospital! We have to get you there!" he yelled while trying to lift Minato's heavy body up off of the ground. "Come on, Minato-sensei!" Minato just slowly shook his head. All of his energy was focused on holding his son steadily._

"_Is Kushina alright?" Kakashi fought back tears; he knew his sensei was going to die._

"_Hai," he lied. "She's just waiting on you and Naruto to come back." That part at least was true. Kakashi was surprised by the small laugh Minato let out. Kakashi sat in front of him and stared into his face. "Minato-sensei! Don't go!" he shook him._

"_Tell Kushina that he's fine," Minato said before gently placing Naruto in Kakashi's arms. "And let everyone know that he needs to be considered a hero for having this burden placed on him." Kakashi nodded and a tear rolled out of his exposed sharingan eye._

"_Yeah." Minato smiled again before the Shinigami managed to finally get the Yondaime's beaten and battered soul._

* * *

"Oi. Oi. Oi! OI!" Naruto managed to find Minato's shoulder in the darkness and he shook him.

"Huh?" he asked after finally snapping back from his remembrance of this important event.

"You were just being too quiet," Naruto mumbled grudgingly. Minato laughed a little but then fell silent. "So what do we do next?"

"I have no idea," Minato admitted. "I've never gotten out of here."

"Have you tried?"

"For so long," he muttered before cradling his head in his hands. He was still struggling to get over the idea that his wife was dead.

Naruto grunted in frustration. "There has to be a way out of here!" he yelled.

"Good luck finding it."

"You're a lot of help."

"Well I did just get told that my son was hated for what I did and that my wife is dead."

"So? Shouldn't you want to get out of here anyway?"

"I do. I'm just a little overwhelmed at the moment."

"Hmph." Naruto turned around and decided that he didn't want to deal with this man for much longer. He wanted to go for a quick walk, but then he knew he would get lost. He sighed in defeat and sat down on the cool ground, or whatever it was he was sitting on. Silence once again reigned in the darkness.

* * *

"Sakura?" She whirled around to stare back at Tsunade. "I thought you were on call tonight." Tsunade shut the door behind her and went to check the monitors surrounding Naruto's bed. She left after just a few moments and Sakura quietly went back to watching Naruto.

The ominous quiet was soon interrupted but the loud noise of her pager suddenly going off. She sighed loudly and left the room.

* * *

Hinata blushed again and turned away from her questioning teammate. "You've been terrible during the latest missions!"

"Kiba, Hinata-san is doing her best," Shino muttered from behind his jacket. Currently they were in a restaurant but Shino refused to eat since he would show his face.

"Hinata! What's bugging you?" Kiba demanded to know. He was running around her so that she would look at him even if she did turn away.

"No-nothing!" She laughed as Kiba dragged Akamaru in front of her.

"Well then tell Akamaru!" The large nin dog barked in encouragement and Shino sighed. Anyone could tell that something was wrong with her and that Kiba was truly worried. Still, he always somehow managed to make Hinata that much happier.

Hinata smiled and leaned down to whisper in Akamaru's ear. Kiba tried to listen in but she shoved him out of the way. "There. I told Akamaru, just like you told me to!" she said proudly. Shino smiled silently and let it continue.

Once they had left the restaurant Kiba began asking even more questions. "Kiba, I'm fine! Really." Shino sighed and just let them be until they reached the training ground where they were to meet up with Kurenai for a simple escort mission.

Shino—although no one else could see it—smiled quite a bit to himself. He only hoped that Kurenai's plan would work out.

* * *

"Come oooooon!" Naruto whined even louder. "There has to be a way out of here!"

"I told you, I've been trying for nearly sixteen years and I'm still here. Try reaching out to your body or something," Minato said disdainfully. He wasn't even concentrated on the current events. He had been dead for sixteen years, how long had Kushina been dead? Obviously Ero-Sensei was still alive; Naruto had complained about him for quite a while.

Naruto hmphed and sat still for a few moments. "How do I do that?" he finally asked. Minato sighed deeply and explained, yet again, how he didn't know.

"For my son you are pretty clueless."

"Oh shut up," Naruto retorted. Minato tried not to laugh and instead told him to concentrate on where his current body was and what it felt like. "What does that mean? 'What it felt like'?"

"How it felt to move, how your flesh feels against certain fabrics, what, I don't know, an apple tastes like. Anything and everything about you."

"I don't like apples."

"Quit complaining!" Minato said sternly before sighing again. "That was an example. Just think about everything you used to do and what it feels like, tastes like, anything!" Minato tried to encourage Naruto, but his son was not cooperating. Minato finally gave up trying to tell him what to do and instead decided to just ignore him. _This is going to take a while, _he thought quietly before the silence reigned in the darkness yet again.

**AN: So now that it's summer I'll have more time to work, but since my mom has spring fever ((even though it's summer. Odd, I know)) I'm being forced to help clean the whole house. It should be done within the week which will leave me with more time to work, and therefore longer and better chapters.**

**I would like to thank my beta, AnimeOtaku31821, yet again for all her help. Trust me, I had no idea what I was doing for a while, but she's helped me get through some terrible cases of Writer's Block and whatnot. I also wish her luck with her schoolwork since that's been a problem lately...**

**Thanks for reading ((and hopefully reviewing)). I have to admit, I do wish I got more reviews. I want to know what you guys, the valuable readers, think about Martyr. I've also decided that I want to go back to Chapter 1 and 2, maybe even three, and rewrite them a little bit. They weren't that good so I have decided to work on that.**

**Until next week, Elizabet639**


	15. Uncertainties

**Sorry it's short. **

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

Chapter 15: Uncertainties

"K-Kurenai-sensei?!" Hinata gasped only halfway through Kurenai's explanation.

"Hinata, it's a simple mission. Barely even C-rank and both of you are Chuunins," she said reassuringly. "You two can handle this mission without Shino and me." Currently, Kiba was smiling so that the two crimson marks on his cheeks were folded nearly to half their normal size. He had no clue why they were doing this, but he was just happy to spend some time with Hinata.

Hinata, however, was more scared than usual of her mission. She trusted Kiba but she didn't want to leave the village with just him to help on the mission. "How l-long will it t-take?" she asked quietly while nervously tapping her index fingers in front of her.

Shino looked up and answered for Kurenai. "Don't worry, Hinata. It should only take about a day. You shouldn't even run into trouble on the way." Kiba was stunned that Shino had talked that much, not to mention that it somehow managed to calm Hinata down a bit.

"Well come on, Hinata! Let's get moving! Akamaru!" he called out. "Let's do our best!" Akamaru and Kiba then began the odd ritual of roughly playing before a mission. Hinata laughed lightly and nodded.

"Kiba, we have to go pick up who we're going to escort before we can start the mission," Hinata reminded her teammate.

"Hm? Oh, alright." Kurenai and Shino took this as their signal to leave.

"Think it'll work?" Shino asked her quietly.

"Well it should help with her nervousness at least a bit," she muttered the reply so the two behind her wouldn't hear.

* * *

"It's not working," Naruto mumbled again.

"Quit complaining. I don't know how it works," Minato sighed again. His head still rested in his hands as if the weight of bad news was too much for his neck to hold up.

"You sound a lot like the fox," Naruto murmured after a few moments. He had closed his eyes again and had started to concentrate.

After a few minutes of shock, Minato looked over to where Naruto's voice had come from. "Huh?"

"I said you sound a lot like the fox," he placed emphasis on each syllable to exaggerate. Naruto went back to concentrating but Minato wouldn't let him.

"You mean he's talked to you?"

Naruto sighed deeply and nodded. Then he remembered that Minato couldn't see him nod. "I told you the seal was weak, didn't I? Yeah, he's talked to me a few times. Why's that so important?" Minato sighed loudly again.

"Just focus on getting back."

"It's not working!" Naruto jumped up and felt a wave of dizziness but it passed quickly.

"Then focus on something in that life that you couldn't live without and imagine yourself with it. Maybe that pure emotion will draw you back," Minato offered. He didn't really think it would work, but anything was worth a try.

Naruto muttered a few curses at his father and sat down again. _Focus. I've always had trouble with that. _He sighed and let his mind wander. He thought of ramen, which just made him hungry. Random thoughts popped into and out of his head, but not a single one was strong enough. _Maybe I shouldn't have used that mask. That's why all of my bonds aren't strong enough. _Sasuke was his next topic of thought, and he couldn't tell how he felt about that topic. He hated Sasuke for breaking the bond that they had created, not to mention how he had hurt Sakura. Then again, he wanted to bring Sasuke back and recreate those bonds. It was a bit confusing, but he knew that was what he wanted.

"Anything yet?" Minato asked while formulating a new seal in his head. He forgot about that part after hearing the bad news but now it was the main thing occupying his time.

"I think so," Naruto replied, unsure of himself. He could feel a small tugging sensation pulling at his limbs, but he had no idea what it was.

"What do you mean?" Minato asked. He didn't want to lose this chance when his son needed him alive again.

"Kinda feels like someone's playing tug-o-war with my arms and legs." Minato's eyes widened with realization.

"Naruto, that's it!" Minato yelled loudly.

"Huh?" Naruto was confused now. "What's it?"

"Whatever it is you're concentrating on!" Minato explained frantically.

"I still don't get what you're saying…" The tugging sensation went away but he didn't notice.

"That thing is what's binding you to your body!" Minato was evidently excited about his discovery, but Naruto still didn't understand.

"What are you talking about?" he asked again even more confused now.

"My body was no longer capable of holding a soul so that's why I couldn't return. But the soul is, in some instances, considered the manifestation of emotions. So if you concentrate enough on your emotions then it makes sense that your soul would be drawn to your body." Naruto was still confused, but he was starting to grasp the subject a bit more. "So if enough emotions are drawn out by the soul at one time then the bond between body and soul is strengthened. This explains why different emotions affect your body in different ways!"

"What are you talking about?!" Naruto demanded again. "I know you've been dead for sixteen years, but try and talk like a normal person!"

"Oh, and you're one to talk about talking normally?" Minato asked skeptically.

"Well, compared to the nonsense you're babbling, yes!"

"Oh please! Could you have thought of a better explanation?"

"That's not important!" Naruto retorted.

"Then how is it nonsense?" Minato asked.

"Just the way you worded it," Naruto murmured.

"Don't try to argue with me!" Minato demanded of his son.

"You can't boss me around!" Naruto yelled and jumped up, ready to fight it out.

"Really? The last time I checked, I helped create you!" Minato stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Who cares?!" Naruto yelled to try and prove that he didn't.

"Custody papers," Minato stated.

"What?" Naruto asked, unsure of what Minato was saying.

"Custody papers. I can have possession over you as a guardian which means you have to listen to me. Therefore, I am your boss." Minato was now vaguely reminded of his play arguments with Kushina.

"Oh please, I've gotten through life so far without a guardian. I don't need you to boss me around!"

"Well obviously living without a guardian has turned you into a brat!" Minato had no idea why he was getting angry at his own son like this.

Naruto clenched his fist, ready for a fight. Unfortunately, he had no idea what to say to truly express his anger. He let out a frustrated grunt and let his fists clench tighter.

Minato sighed and knew that they were both just tired of being there. "Look, Naruto…" he murmured.

"What?!" Naruto snapped, just about ready to find Minato's face with his fists.

"I-I'm sorry. Let's just focus on getting back bef—"

"Can we just deal with this later?" Naruto interrupted. He was used to being in actual fights, not fights with words.

"Yeah," Minato said while sighing in defeat. He shrugged and sat down again. "Just don't go wandering off."

"Yeah, yeah. No wandering off," Naruto said absently. He didn't even know what he had just said.

"Naruto, I'm serious. There aren't any chakra signatures or anything here. I won't be able to find you." Minato wanted to make sure he got his point across.

"You worry too much."

"I've been dead for sixteen years and then you came along. What do you expect me to be, carefree?" Minato asked skeptically.

"Carefree would be nice." Minato could have sworn that Naruto's voice seemed farther away than before. "Naruto! Where are you?"

"Just over here. I'm restless. Gotta walk in circles. Ero-Sennin said it helps," Naruto murmured.

Minato let out a sigh of relief. "I mean, it's not like we're alone. They've left me alone for years now but I was already dead so they couldn't do too much. Since you're still alive I need to keep an eye on you."

"But you can't see me," Naruto said, completely oblivious to the fact that Minato had just warned him about something.

"Quit being a smart-alec. I haven't been able to see for sixteen years, my other senses are more defined now," Minato explained. He was currently following Naruto's progress by the sound of his footsteps.

"Hm," Naruto mused. "So if I yell, you hear it extra well?"

"Yes."

"You can smell things better?"

"Yes," Minato sighed out.

"Can you taste things better?"

"Dunno."

"Why not?"

"There's no food here, Sherlock."

"Oh," Naruto sounded disappointed. "No ramen?" he asked, hopeful that his guess wasn't right.

"It would be nice to have some," Minato admitted.

Naruto sighed and shrugged. "What now?" he asked after a few moments.

"What do you mean?" Minato asked, surprised by the odd question.

"What do I do now?" Naruto asked again, this time more clearly.

"Who knows? You might as well try to get out of here. Mind you, I am going to tag along. And hopefully it'll work." Naruto shrugged and then returned to his thoughts.

_Emotions connect me to my body? How in the hell does that work? _Naruto found himself thinking. _Custody papers, please. I've been living on my own for years now and this guy expects me to live with him? I'm better off alone._

Minato, currently combing his fingers through his hair, was thinking similar thoughts. _Custody papers? What the hell did I even bring that up for? _He silently shook his head and then turned to look straight up. _He came to help get me out of here and all I do is argue with him. Kushina was right, I didn't turn out to be a good father._

* * *

"Kiba, stop it!" Hinata firmly told her teammate again. Kiba was currently running around with Akamaru and playing some sort of game, but they hadn't even finished the mission yet. "Kiba…" Hinata sighed.

Kiba's ears perked up and he look at Hinata with what could be called a 'puppy dog look'. "What is it, Hinata?"

"Well… uhm… don't you think we should finish the mission before you and Akamaru play?" she asked somewhat nervously. Kiba straightened up and shrugged.

"The most we're going to fight is a few lowlife bandits, if even that. Stop worrying, Hinata!" Kiba laughed. "I'll either sniff people out or you'll see 'em coming." Akamaru barked reassuringly and Hinata smiled.

"Well, okay then," Hinata caved. "But take the mission seriously, Kiba. Please?" Kiba nodded. He got back into the line behind the woman they were escorting, an eldery woman, and Akamaru decided to trot next to Kiba at a steady pace.

* * *

"It's back," Naruto reported disdainfully. He would have much rather not have informed his father and just left him there; he could have told Tsunade that he just never found him. He let out a small cry of surprise when Minato ran over and latched onto his back in a tight embrace. "What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto yelled out to try and mask the small yelp he had let out earlier.

"Hitching a ride. Now shut up and concentrate like I told you to!" Minato yelled back, hoping that his plan would somehow work. He felt Naruto tense up and he was almost expecting to be tackled to the ground by his own son.

"What happens now?" Naruto asked, a small quiver in his voice.

"I have no idea. Hopefully you just return to your body, but then again the Shinigami never did like letting people just go free from here." Naruto gulped and kept his concentration. It was much better than thinking about what might happen otherwise.

* * *

**AN: Well, seeing as my parentals still have control over what I do, I am now only allowed on the computer for a total of two hours a day. This of course is going to effect my writing at least a little bit. Guess I can't fight it though. Anyway, I've decided to answer to reviews in this part now. It saves a little bit of time, which I need.**

**Alright! First off, thanks Werewulf and Kuma in Pink for reviewing! I'll try to keep up the good work and I hope you guys like this chapter as much as the last. It's wonderful to know how much you guys enjoy this story. ((I had no idea anybody liked it this much.))**

**Huge shoutout to my beta, AnimeOtaku31821, and my best friend, kTD. You guys are such an amazing help and trust me, this would never have gotten anywhere near this great without you two. Thanks for being there for me so much! I love you two!**

**I apologize in advance for any chapters that are too short or a little lacking. The two hours I am given a day just isn't enough sometimes. I'm also sorry if updates start coming later. I'm also not entirely sure where this story is headed, but I plan to make it interesting till the very end. Thanks for following Scars for 15 chapters and I'll see you next week. **

**Elizabet639**


	16. Challenges

**Sorry it's so short!**

* * *

Chapter 16: Challenges

"Come on!" Naruto yelled out into the new scenery. Minato, as soon as they had somehow arrived in this new place, had jumped off of his back and shielded his eyes. "I figured out how to get out of that damn place and now I'm stuck in some other place! When am I gonna get back?!" he yelled again to absolutely nobody.

Naruto, luckily, had not been suffering in consuming darkness for the past sixteen years. That of course helped his eyes adjust to the new light. Instead of not being able to see anything, he could see nearly everything. There was no longer consuming darkness going on forever, but rather a bright white expanse.

The blonde jinchuuriki shielded his eyes for a minute, but they adjusted quickly. Even if they hadn't adjusted, there was nothing to see. He glanced around again, seeing nothing but his father's figure. Minato was still covering his face with his hands, every so often lifting a finger or two. Once the light reached his eyes he clamped his hands shut again.

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto asked, walking up to him. So far, it looked like the only thing they had similar was the hair color and shape.

Minato turned sharply to face where Naruto's voice had come from. "My eyes aren't exactly used to light," Minato said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever," Naruto scoffed before turning away. "Where are we anyway?" Minato shrugged and finally took his shielding hands away from his eyes. He did, however, keep his eyes closed. He shrugged lightly and sighed.

"I don't think the Shinigami is just going to let people escape from here. One would think that there would be challenges and other things to defy the wish of getting out of here," Minato said clearly. He realized something and laughed lightly. "You thought you were just going to get out of here like that, didn't you?" Naruto pouted a muttered a quick yes before turning his head away. Minato was nearly sent into hysterics from the small joke.

"What's so funny?" Naruto snapped after a moment. Minato had to take a moment before he was settled down enough to talk.

"You really thought that you were going to get out of here that easily. Just being that naïve… It's something I've missed," he muttered the last part. Naruto muttered something under his breath quickly but then turned to start wandering around.

"You coming?" Minato's head whipped over to where the noise had come from; he still hadn't opened his eyes. "Well, first open your eyes. You'll trip or something." Minato laughed and cracked open one eye. Naruto was stunned by Minato's face—it did look exactly like his—and hair.

Reluctantly, Minato managed to open both eyes. After a few moments, the bleariness faded to a lower extreme and he glanced around. The moment his eyes landed on Naruto's figure, he knew it was his son. Minato could clearly remember looking almost exactly like that when he was younger, but he did see a few of Kushina's features. Naruto raised an eyebrow and waved his hand in front of Minato's face. "I'm fine, just surprised," Minato answered. Naruto gave him a questioning look but shrugged and turned the other direction. Minato, whose vision had completely cleared, took the lead silently and Naruto trailed behind quietly.

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked after a while.

"I don't know. I've never been here before," Minato answered quietly. As they walked further, Minato noted small objects showing up. He couldn't clearly identify them, but it almost looked like stone or clay, maybe dirt. "Don't touch anything, will you?" Minato asked harshly when he saw Naruto about to grab one of the small objects. Naruto muttered something that couldn't be deciphered. Minato sighed loudly and continued forward.

* * *

"That was easy, Hinata! We didn't run into anybody!" Kiba exclaimed, showing his canines in a wide smile. He walked along almost effortlessly and Hinata trudged behind him, graceful but not as carefree. Akamaru had disappeared into the forest somewhere. Kiba had shrugged it off, simply saying, "He knows his way around. He'll come back."

"Y-yeah," she nodded in agreement. It had been an easy mission. Her thoughts were already drifting back to Konoha. She had already promised Kiba that he could take her to Ichiraku.

"Why do you think that Shino and Kurenai didn't want to come on the mission? It would have been relaxing for both of them," Kiba said stubbornly. Hinata found herself laughing lightly.

"Maybe they just wanted a day off, Kiba." Kiba looked over and a smile crossed his features.

"Shino has never wanted a day off, Hinata," he answered. Hinata smiled lightly and pretended she never heard Kiba. Instead, she busied herself with looking at the scenery around them. Kiba sighed and gave up any idea of conversation.

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, are you sure he'll be okay?" Sakura asked after having witness yet another of Naruto's vitals fail. Tsunade nodded wearily; she had worked hard and had managed to stabilize Naruto but it took a lot out of her.

"Hopefully he'll wake up soon enough and we won't have to worry about it." After a few moments, she added, "You and I both know that he's not one to give up easily." Sakura nodded quietly and watched as Tsunade stood up out of the chair she had been resting in. "Now then, your break is almost over. Hurry and get back to work," she said sternly. Then, with a softer tone she added, "It'll get your mind out of here." With that, Tsunade quietly left the room.

Sakura reluctantly followed, but not before turning around and staring at each and every screen of the monitors individually. Eventually her gaze passed to Naruto's face, where it stayed for a very long moment. She let out a reluctant sigh and left, oblivious to the heart monitor increasing just slightly in speed.

* * *

Minato stopped in his tracks and glanced back at Naruto. "What are you doing?" he hissed, trying not to be loud. He didn't know why, but he knew he should be careful now. Naruto, however, was oblivious as usual.

"My arm isn't listening to me," he answered. He poked his left arm again and it swayed from the force. Minato sighed and shook his head. "What are you doing anyway?" Naruto asked Minato. He was carefully stepping around every dip or mound in the ground, along with every object. It was getting increasingly harder.

"Look, just step where I step and don't touch anything," Minato said for at least the fourth time.

"Again, my arm isn't responding! It'll flap around!" Naruto retorted. Minato forced himself not to laugh. Naruto looked generally worried and Minato was being as serious as possible. He found the contrast hilarious.

"I know what to do," Minato said loudly, trying to talk over Naruto's worried yells. Minato tore off a sleeve of the gown—he just now realized that he was wearing it—and tore it a few more times to make it long enough to circle Naruto's body. He carefully walked over to Naruto and tied Naruto's left arm to his body. "There." Naruto stopped yelling and instead looked down at his arm, which was bound to his side.

After a few moments, Naruto's thinking process kicked in. "Ne, Yondaime-sama?" Minato turned around and was about to correct Naruto, his name was Minato, not Yondaime, but he stopped when Naruto continued. "Why isn't my arm moving?"

"You keep asking me all these questions. I don't know everything," Minato said. "I can only guess why. Maybe your body is somehow reaching your soul. Maybe we're getting closer to getting out."

"Oh. If that's true, then I might be in a coma before I get out of here," Naruto joked to himself.

Several moments of silence ensued and it nearly drove Naruto mad. There was nothing to hear other than their footsteps and the rustling of the gowns they were both wearing. "Naruto, come look at this," Minato told him quickly. Naruto walked over and looked down. Minato was pointing at the ground, where a few rocks and the dirt had been moved to spell something. Naruto sighed exasperatedly as Minato read it out loud. "It says 'Three Challenges'."

Naruto looked over and his father and said, "'Three challenges'? What?" Minato stared at it longer and laughed.

"It seems as if someone is warning us that there are going to be three challenges. Maybe they wrote something more further along this path," he explained. Naruto didn't understand why the situation was funny so he asked Minato why he had been laughing. "It's the clichéd three challenges." Naruto still didn't understand. "In most old stories, there are three challenges that the heroes or heroines have to overcome before they reach their goal."

"Oh. I don't think that's funny. How am I supposed to get through these things with a dead arm?" Minato sweatdropped and decided to just start walking again. Naruto followed, poking at his arm.

* * *

"Dammit," Tsunade muttered to her pile of paperwork. "Go away," she ordered it. Shizune walked in to see Tsunade glaring intensely at the stack of paperwork.

"Tsunade-sama?" she asked quietly. She didn't want to ask too loudly or Tsunade could very well injure her or the wall.

"What is it, Shizune?" Tsunade asked with a lighter tone than Shizune thought she would have.

"Uhm… well, there's a bit of a problem at the hospital," she admitted. Tsunade perked an eyebrow questioningly.

"What problem is there?" she asked harshly. She was staring daggers at the paperwork but Shizune felt the glare go through the paperwork to her. Shizune was silent and Tsunade demanded answers. "Is there an outbreak of something? Too many academy students injured?" Shizune shook her head no to each question, and eventually Tsunade was nearly out of questions. "Then what is it, Shizune?!"

"It's Naruto." Tsunade's eyes widened, fearing the worst. "He's gone."

"W-what?" Tsunade asked nearly terrified. _That kid wouldn't die so easily._

"There's no trace of him in the room. His bed's empty and all but one pair of his clothes are still there." Tsunade was at first relieved that Naruto wasn't dead, but then realization hit.

"He shouldn't even be awake! And even if he is, he's in no condition to get up and walk around freely like that. Shizune! Inform Hinata, Ino, Sakura, and Kakashi of this information and have every one of them search for Naruto. Remind them to do it subtly; we can't let word of this spread." Shizune nodded and ran out the door. Tsunade placed her hands in her hands and sighed. "You're too much, Naruto."

* * *

"So, basically, we don't know what the challenges are, but we know that there's three and that we have to pass them to get out of here," Naruto summed up.

"That's the gist of it," Minato agreed looking up at the large object. "I've got a feeling that's the first one." Naruto nodded in agreement.

"It makes sense. A giant mountain in the middle of nowhere. Plus the terrain around it is too rugged to maneuver. Still, climbing a mountain?" Naruto asked, unsure of whether it would be possible.

"Not climbing it. We have to go through it," Minato decided confidently.

"Huh?" Naruto asked. He didn't know what Minato was trying to say.

"There's got to be a cave somewhere that we can travel through. No doubt there'll be traps and other things to stop us, but we've got to try." Naruto nodded and decided to lead this time around.

**AN: Sorry it's so short! I know I already said that, but I am sorry. Since it's summer, friends have started planning things for just about every single day and yeah. I've gotten a little behind with my writing. Also, sorry it's late. Now that the apologies are over, don't you love the cliched three challenges? xD Uh... I think that's all I have to say. I promise next chapter will be longer and hopefully better! Till next time.**

**Nebula1701: Yes, this is going to get very interesting. I had a random idea strike me! And I doubt Naruto will ever loose that mask, but maybe he'll try. And that was a great idea. It's definately helping. I don't know why I couldn't think of that. Haha. Thanks for your review!**

**Elizabet639**

**P.S. I forgot to say, please R&R! Now I'm done. xD**


	17. The First Challenge

**Man, I'm so so so so so so so so so so so -two hours later- so so so sorry about this being so late.**

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

Chapter 17: The Enemy Within

"He just got up and left?" Kakashi asked lazily. Shizune nodded her head several times. "Alright, I think I know where he might be," he answered reluctantly while placing his favored Icha Icha book back into his pouch. Shizune smiled gratefully and ran off in another direction. Kakashi sighed loudly and shrugged. "Might as well check his house," he muttered before jumping away.

* * *

"But I was in there just about fifteen minutes ago!" Sakura exclaimed after being told the news. She was working her shift at the hospital when Shizune came running into the clinic looking for her. "When did he leave?" Shizune explained what she knew, which was virtually nothing, and Sakura sighed. "I suppose I have to help look for him then," she said while placing down the latest patient's chart. Shizune smiled gratefully again and walked out. Sakura went to check the first place on her mind.

* * *

"So he woke up from a coma and just walked out of the room. I may not be a medical ninja, but even I think that there's something wrong with that," Ino said bluntly.

"It's certainly not normal," Shizune answered. Ino just shrugged, took off her work apron, and set it down on the counter. She yelled to her mother that she was going to leave for a while and then walked out from behind the counter.

"I know it's not really any of my business, but maybe you should get Kiba and Akamaru to track him down by scent," she offered. Shizune nodded, smiled gratefully yet again, and walked out the door. Ino, after a few moments, followed. She could at least check all of the training grounds. Naruto was known for being stubborn so it was a possibility.

* * *

Hinata, who was going to be the last to receive the news, had just arrived in Konoha with Kiba. Soon they were headed to the Hokage Tower to fill in the mission report, but first Kiba had made Hinata promise that she would go to Ichiraku with him. "Promise," he had said several times and each time Hinata promised she would go. Each time she did, Kiba's face got one shade darker and his smile grew.

"Hinata-san!" Kiba and Hinata both turned their heads to see Shizune walking toward them both. She glanced over at Kiba and tried to think of a way to have him leave.

"Shizune-sama? What is it?" Hinata asked. Shizune wouldn't have a reason to come and see her unless it was about a mission or Naruto.

"The Hokage wants to see you right away," Shizune said. It was a half-truth; Tsunade wanted to see Hinata, Sakura, and Ino in her office eventually. She had actually specified that they should only come after Naruto had been found, but Shizune would tell Hinata that after Kiba had left.

"Oh. Alright. Kiba, will you take care of the mission report? I'll meet you at Ichiraku's later." Kiba nodded and headed off to take care of what he needed to take care of. After Kiba was out of sight, Shizune looked around and decided that no one was going to listen to them.

"Naruto's somehow left the hospital," Shizune started to explain. Hinata gasped out of shock and Shizune helped to calm her down. After a few moments, both women were sitting down and thinking of places that Naruto would go. So far they had listed off his house, the training grounds, Ichiraku, the Hokage Tower, the Hokage Monument, and maybe even out of Konoha. "This'll be harder than I thought," Shizune sighed out.

"Maybe if we had more people searching," Hinata offered. She opened her mouth to speak again but Shizune started before she did.

"Then the council will know and they'll probably try to get us to kill him somehow." Shizune shook her head several times to try and clear it.

"Neji-san or I could u-use the Byakugan and s-see if we could f-find him," she said nervously. Two fingers were tapping in front of her while she talked. Shizune mentally slapped herself.

"Of course! Please, Hinata, go find Neji and try to find him!" Shizune begged. Hinata nodded quickly and headed off to go find Neji.

* * *

"Dammit, where the hell does the brat live?!" he asked himself impatiently. "It's enough to just try and use this body but I'm expected to know where he _lives_?!" A feral growl escaped from the back of his throat. Currently the fox was wishing he had a few tails to swish about angrily. He bared his teeth and glared around. After deciding that he would have no way of knowing what the brat's—now his—house would look like he breathed out forcefully.

Eventually he gave up on finding his home and instead decided to train. Sure, the brat's body was a little stiff, but he was sure that he could get past that. He wasn't even sure how he had managed to gain control of the body and still not be able to leave as himself. He hated the sound of the brat's voice, even when it was slightly gruff from his chakra, so he concluded to stop talking. _Maybe the seal is still partly intact, but not enough to keep me out of Naruto's mind. _Forcing his chakra back was hard but it had to be done; any of the ninja in this town would immediately recognize the malice that presented itself. "First though," he spoke again, "I need some new clothes."

As a fox, the Kyuubi had experienced many thrilling experiences, but he had to say that being able to walk down the street nearly unnoticed was a new one. Without the bright orange jumpsuit, he realized that he no longer looked childish but much more mature. He still had to keep his head down and mouth shut, though. Glowing red eyes and razor sharp canines were something that would be noticed. The blonde hair was also a problem. Kyuubi decided that before he could even think of trying to dye his hair he needed to train and find a way to suppress his own chakra.

* * *

In the Hyuuga household, Hinata had explained everything to Neji who just nodded as if it was expected. "He's so rash that something like this was bound to happen," he explained himself. "But, Hinata-sama, how are we supposed to find him? Konoha is a large place and we don't have many people to help with the search."

Hinata, most unlike herself, said a straightforward answer. "We find him." Neji found the statement to be a bit puzzling and unlike Hinata, but he nodded all the same. Obviously her friends were really starting to help her get past her nervousness. A slight smile managed to show itself on his face for a moment before being replaced by a serious nod.

"Then let's go." Both Hyuuga's nodded and disappeared.

* * *

"Naruto!" Sakura kicked down the door. After ten minutes of knocking the hinges were broken regardless. "I'm gonna kick your ass!" she yelled into the house. A figure stepped out of his room, but it obviously wasn't Naruto. This man was taller and had a different hairstyle. After a moment the recognition hit Sakura. "Kakashi-sensei? I thought you were still recovering!"

Kakashi laughed lightly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I did start to feel better and now Tsunade wants me to help look for Naruto. Doesn't look like he's here though. Actually, it doesn't look like _anybody's_ been here for a while," he muttered.

Sakura hung her head and sighed. Kakashi noticed but didn't say anything. _Seems like I've had the most depressing genin in my team since day one,_ he thought quietly. "Why don't we try Ichiraku? I bet that he's stopped by there today." He was hoping to cheer Sakura up, but it just seemed to depress her even more. "… or not! Either way is fine." The two resumed searching Naruto's house for any clues of his whereabouts.

* * *

The two azure eyes glared at each other relentlessly. "That way is right!" Naruto decided, pointing to the right.

"No, the other one is!" Minato argued and pointed to the left. The two had found a path through the giant mountain, but so far it had just proven to be a maze. Now they were at a fork in the path. They had no idea what was waiting for them but at the moment they were fighting over which route to take. Naruto, trying to prove a point, lifted up both hands and made L's. Minato was unaware that Naruto was not arguing which path to follow, but rather which one was left and which was right. "Hey! You can use your left arm again," Minato pointed out.

"Really?" he asked before moving it around again. "Hey! I can!" he smiled happily and waved his arm around. "That way is still right."

"No, this one is!" Minato pointed down the left path again.

"No, that's left! This is right! See?" he started to explain to Minato the difference but Minato was too busy laughing. "What's so funny?" Naruto demanded.

"We've been fighting about two absolutely different things the whole time!" A bright smile covered his face and Naruto muttered something before Minato stopped. "Alright, so shall we head down the left tunnel?"

Naruto shrugged and said, "I don't see why not." The two walked down the path, Minato in the lead. After about ten minutes of walking, they both noticed that the ground and walls had changed in texture, not to mention that it was steadily getting colder. They glanced at each other and Minato shrugged, although Naruto would barely make it out. The sunlight from outside was fading and neither of the blondes had any sort of light with them. Instead, to find their way through, they were relying on the walls to guide them. Minato's hand was on the right wall while Naruto's was on the left.

"This isn't much of a challenge," Naruto mumbled. Minato shushed at him and continued forward.

"Don't let your guard down. The Shinigami isn't going to be so willing to give me up." The Yondaime stated it with no waver in his voice; he knew this to be a fact.

Naruto nodded and sighed. He wondered how everyone else was managing back in Konoha. He saw a small shaft of light coming from further down the tunnel, but he couldn't see Minato in front of him. Panicked, Naruto thrust his right hand out in front of him. "Yondaime-sama?" he asked in a whisper. When nobody answered, Naruto whirled to try and turn around but he found himself facing a wall. "Wha—how?" he asked himself. He tried to break through the wall but it was seemingly made of solid rock. "There wasn't a wall there three seconds ago!" he yelled at the wall. Naruto quickly swiveled around to find himself staring at the person he least expected.

"That's impossible," he muttered under his breath. He could barely move his eyes away from the mirrored crimson glow in the other person's eyes. "It's me." He blinked. The other figure smiled deviously and its eyes slit menacingly. Even in the dim light Naruto could pick out the sharp canines and nails. "First challenge?" he asked, hoping to get a response. The figure blinked and nodded. Naruto gulped and a bead of sweat rolled down his face. "Do I have to beat you?" The figure shrugged. "Great. So what the hell are you doing here? You are me anyway… I think." The figure growled deeply and Naruto felt his own muscles tense with either fear or anticipation; he wasn't exactly sure which.

* * *

"Naruto? You're being awfully quiet back there," Minato said jokingly. However, when Naruto didn't answer he cursed. "Naruto!" he yelled. He could hear his voice bouncing off of the walls, but he still didn't hear any response. He cursed again and started to head back. To his surprise, he found that he couldn't. A new wall had appeared, but another pathway had opened. Minato cursed again and, keeping a hand on the right wall, sprinted down the new pathway. He could hear his feet pounding the ground, his breathing rasp his lungs, and the wind rush past his ears. His ears pricked up as another noise joined in. Minato skidded to a halt and jogged back to the source of the noise. "Who's there?" Minato asked. He was hoping that Naruto would be there; he would feel terrible if Naruto got stuck here just because of his idiocy. The small whisper that his ear had picked up turned into a song. His mouth opened partly to say something, but he could clearly recognize the voice and the song. His mouth hung open and he walked forward slowly. "Kushina…" he whispered.

* * *

**AN: I'm really really sorry that this is a week late. I have been working on it a lot. I don't know why, but it was hard to write. Anyway, I'm afraid that I'm leaving to go visit family on Friday and I won't be back until the 6th. This means that, since I will have no computer access whilst I am visiting them, the next chapter will more than likely come out on the 11th of July. I will have a notebook with me everywhere I go just in case. I will write notes to myself on ideas or lines and I will, quite possibly, write down the entire chapter. Maybe even the 19th. I do know what I want to write, it's just whether or not I will.**

**As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite it's delay. And for all of you thinking, "what the heck is going on?!", I shall explain probably next chapter. I'll probably sum up the first challenge and introduce the second. Please review, I love getting feedback!**

**Nevula1701--Well, I believe I answered that question within this chapter. And if I didn't, Kyuubi's taking it for a test drive. The Shinigami's a bit... busy at the moment with those two trying to escape. Thanks for reviewing! That one did give me a little laugh... and no problem. I love using good ideas xD.**

**Elizabet639**


	18. One Down, Two to Go

**Disclaimer: **Geez, if I owned any of this stuff I wouldn't be writing a fanfic about it, now would I? xD

"Talking"

_Thinking_

* * *

Chapter 18: One Down, Two to Go

"Oi, Naruto!" Kyuubi, still in control of Naruto's body, pretended he didn't hear a word. The person yelled again, but he simply continued walking down the street. _I finally get a chance to get out of that damned seal and this happens, _he thought. _Now I've got to lose whoever this guy is. _Kyuubi kept his head down and tried to search Naruto's mind for any idea of how to get out of this mess. It was to no avail. Instead, Kyuubi dedicated his time to picking out a street that led out of Konoha, not further in to it. Whoever was following him and demanding attention had apparently stopped, so Kyuubi turned around to make sure.

Keeping his eyes in the shadows was a hard task, but he managed to shut his mouth over the canines and appear somewhat normal. A cat walked up to him and mewed lightly. Kyuubi never really liked cats. A deep growl sent the cat on its way. He stared up at the roof of a tall building and leaped up to the top gracefully. Crimson eyes swept over Konoha, taking in every little detail. A pack of birds were sitting on a wire, the same cat Kyuubi had sent away was now heading to the pack of birds. His eyes picked out small bits of information that were unneeded and information that he could always use later.

His eyes were drawn to the lush forest. It used to be his own home, but he shook his head to throw any thoughts like that from his head. He didn't need to reminisce now. He sighed out loudly, yet again wishing he had tails. He never could understand how humans expressed some feelings without them. Shrugging, he jumped off towards the forest without a plan.

* * *

Naruto took a step to the right, seeing what his counterpart would do. Naruto watched and observed; something the old perv had been teaching him just before they returned to Konoha. He stepped left, his counterpart stepped right. Finally, a thought occurred to him. "What's your name?" Naruto asked. "Mine's Uzumaki Naruto!" he proclaimed. His counterpart just stared and continued mirroring his movements. "You aren't talkative," he pouted. After he was done observing, Naruto finally wanted out of that place. Carefully he walked to the farthest wall and placed himself up against it. He glanced over at his counterpart, who was doing the exact same. A smirk found its way onto Naruto face as he bolted forward. He glanced back after a few steps to make sure that his counterpart was not following him. Unfortunately, this counterpart didn't mirror all of Naruto's movements. _It must have been tricking me into thinking it was easy to get out! _Naruto gritted his teeth and ran all the same. He wanted out of there; this was no time to be dealing with some illusion. At least he thought it was an illusion.

_Keep a hand on the wall, idiot! _He yelled at himself before skidding to nearly a complete stop. The light he could see earlier had now vanished. He wished Minato was there, since he probably knew what was happening. Naruto, on the other hand, had absolutely no idea what was happening. He just wanted away from the creepy thing, as he called it. "Yondaime!" he yelled, hoping maybe he would run into him eventually.

Unfortunately, Minato was busy with his own business. _She has to be an illusion; Kushina would be in the land of the living or the dead, not here in this limbo place. Besides, I would have heard her earlier, _a part of Minato thought frantically. He ignored those thoughts. He hadn't seen his beloved Kushina in sixteen years. Now the love he felt was almost unbearable. That one part of his mind kept nagging him though. Something about getting out, running away; the words weren't really that important at the moment. A loud noise bounced around the walls of the cave, but Minato ignored it completely. That nagging part of his brain started up again. Something about a test, which Minato thought was ridiculous. He wasn't in school. Tests were only given in school. There, that obnoxious sound again.

_That's your son! Snap out of it! _Minato wished that voice would stop. It was annoying. He wanted to tear his eyes away from Kushina, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The voice continued to yell at him. Minato finally decided to listen to it a little; maybe then it would go away. Much to Minato's dismay, it only got louder.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Naruto yelled, still running. "Yondaime!" he yelled for the umpteenth time. Naruto stubbornly refused to call him 'father' or 'dad'. Robbed of his sight from the darkness, Naruto had no idea where he was headed, but it was following his right hand. "Yondaime!" he yelled yet again. Running as fast as he could while still thinking, Naruto didn't realize that his right hand was no longer gripping a wall, but instead it was gripping air. He cursed under his breath and reached out his left hand. His left hand also gripped air. Cursing again, Naruto took a sharp left and ran with his hands behind him for a little while. Of course, he periodically yelled out for the Yondaime.

"Yondaime…" Minato muttered. Somehow that meant something to him, but Kushina's trance wouldn't allow him to remember exactly what that was. The noise seemed louder now and Minato thought he heard footsteps. Minato started to come out of the trance, but of course that wouldn't be allowed. The noise and footsteps grew louder. Some part of Minato's brain picked up that information, but it never made any sense.

Naruto, running blindly, had a feeling that he was going to run into a wall. Since apparently the walls moved, that would more than likely happen. He thought, though, that running into a wall might be better than his counterpart catching up with him. Speaking of his counterpart, Naruto turned his head to look behind him. No sign of that thing. Then again, he couldn't really see anyway. "Yondaime!" Naruto yelled before running into something. It wasn't a wall, but it was a little too tall to be his counterpart. It didn't really matter, though, since he fell down on top of what—or who—ever he had run into. They both fell down in a heap, Naruto rolling off and away, into a nearby wall. He rubbed his head gingerly and muttered a few curses.

Yondaime had still been in his trance, his mind telling him to move. He didn't really know why he would need to move; he could see Kushina just fine from where he was. Just when he decided that he could see Kushina better a few steps over, something ran into him—hard. He fell backwards, smacking his head on the ground. Blinking several times didn't help the headache he knew was coming. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head. He opened his eyes yet again to see Kushina. His mind stopped processing information. Even the throbbing pain from his head was no longer relevant.

Naruto sat up and looked around. Even though he couldn't really see, he knew that he had just run into the Yondaime. "Yondaime!" Naruto whispered harshly. "Are you alright?" he asked. No response. "Hey!" he hissed. Carefully, Naruto got up and put his hands out in front of him. Immediately he made contact with the Yondaime's arm. "Hey! What's wrong?" he asked, shaking the Yondaime a little. "You aren't acting normal," Naruto stated. The Yondaime still didn't respond, not even a turn of the head. "What're you staring at?" he asked, turning his head.

_Snap out of it! _That voice was beginning to bother him again. Not to mention that buzzing in his ear. It almost felt like someone had grabbed him, too. But that didn't really matter.

Naruto decided to resort to desperate measures. "Hey! Wake up!" He yelled first, to make sure that Minato wasn't in his right mind. When Minato didn't respond, Naruto did what he did best. He was annoying. After a few moments of that, Naruto realized that something had to be wrong. "H-hey! Yondaime?" he asked, shaking him a little harder. Again, there was no reaction. Finally, Naruto swallowed down his own pride. "Dad!" the word felt odd, but it was somehow reassuring. He just hoped it would somehow wake Minato up from his trance. "Dad!" Naruto gripped his father's shoulders tightly and stood directly in front of him, trying to see his face. Glaring at his father, Naruto finally decided that it wasn't any use to keep yelling out his name. Minato obviously hadn't noticed, maybe he didn't care, that Naruto had called him dad a few times.

With his pride still intact, Naruto attempted to pick his father, who had a few inches and more than likely some weight on Naruto, up. Needless to say, it didn't work very well. Naruto ended up falling backwards—he had put too much of his father's weight behind him—and Minato fell down with him. Naruto landed with nothing resembling grace and shook his head. The thoughts that were scrambled somewhat made sense, and he realized that the upper half of his body wasn't on solid ground. "Yondaime!" Naruto realized, moving so that he was no longer lying on top of his dad.

"What's going on?" Minato asked in a nearly incoherent mumble. Naruto shrugged absent mindedly and looked around. Minato sat up, the pain in his head and back subsiding enough to let him do so.

"Well, I tried to pick you up and carry you out of this place but I ended up falling down. Sort of on top of you," he added with a foxy smile. Minato just groaned in annoyance. "I don't like this place, can we get moving and get out now?" Naruto asked, looking around and checking for that thing that had been chasing him.

"Yeah, I get the idea. Let's go," he muttered before standing up. He could feel the pain in his head coming back. Hitting your head twice on stone hard ground would more than likely give you a headache anyway. Naruto's hand latched on to Minato's wrist and starting dragging him along. "Any idea how to get out of here?" Minato asked, wondering why Naruto was in such a rush.

"No idea," was Naruto's answer.

"You've got to have some idea! Some sort of plan or something. We could end up back on the side of the mountain we started on!"

"I'm making this up as I go. I never was good at thinking ahead," Naruto muttered. He didn't really want Minato to hear that last part. "I figure as long as we keep moving we'll get out," he explained himself. Minato just sighed and went along with it.

"Fine, but try to think these things through from now on. You are a Konoha shinobi, after all." Naruto muttered something under his breath in response, but Minato paid no attention; he was busy trying to create a map in his head.

"Look!" Naruto yelled before running faster than before. Minato glanced up and reluctantly jogged after Naruto.

"Light at the end of the tunnel, huh?" he chuckled to himself. It didn't really matter all that much, though, since they would finally be out of the mountain. Minato slowed down to a walking pace while Naruto sped up, more than eager to get out of the cave. Once Naruto's figure passed through the exit, Minato suppressed a smile. He could hear Naruto's obvious shouts of freedom and happiness. Minato walked out, covering his eyes from the bright light. "Look, I know you're excited and all, but we're not anywhere near done. Itfs three challenges, remember? This was probably just the first."

Even that statement couldn't calm Naruto down. "But we got through the first! Relatively unscathed, too!" Minato's eyebrows arched, surprised that his son could use a word such as unscathed. Maybe he wasn't as dimwitted as he had led Minato to believe.

"Look, let's just take it easy for a little while. Figure out what went on in," Minato jerked his head in the direction of the mountain, "there." Naruto shrugged, just happy to be out of that place.

"One down, two to go!" he shouted happily, causing Minato to let out an exhausted sigh.

* * *

"Any luck?" Sakura asked her sensei, who was currently engrossed with the latest Icha Icha book.

"Hm?" Kakashi replied, taking a moment to realize what she meant. "Oh. No, actually. Just a little information from Konohamaru. He said he saw Naruto walking around earlier and yelled out at him. Wanted to play a ninja game or something like that," Kakashi shrugged. "Naruto didn't respond and just kept walking so Konohamaru gave up and came to me to see if anything was wrong with him," Kakashi shrugged, picking his book up yet again to finish reading. After both Kakashi and Sakura had finished searching, or more like ransacking, Naruto's house, they had parted ways to cover more ground.

"Where did he go?" Sakura asked, wanting to find Konohamaru to question him as soon as possible.

"If I knew, we wouldn't be looking for him, would we?" Kakashi asked smartly.

"I meant Konohamaru!" Sakura barked, clearly her patience was running low.

"I think he went off on a D-rank mission," Kakashi muttered absently.

"Fine, I'll go talk to Tsunade-sama then," Sakura sighed before running off. Kakashi shrugged and went back to reading, a smile forming beneath his mask.

**AN: I'm not entirely sure why, but this chapter was a little hard to write. Anywho, hoorah! First challenge is over! If you're wondering what that thing was, it'll be explained next chapter, along with why Kushina showed up. Then, of course, I'll introduce the second challenge! I think. xD Unfortunately, I'm having a lack of inspiration and motivation. When school starts back up, hopefully that'll change. I won't update nearly as much once it does because of marching band. There's more info in my profile, and I'll probably explain it all once it comes around that time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Shoutouts to my beta and best friend. You guys know who you are.**

**00Midnight Siren00: Wow, thanks for your 5 reviews. Don't feel bad! I'm just glad you like Scars. Thanks a bunch!**

**Please read and review! See you all next week!**

**Elizabet639**


	19. Like Father Like Son

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Naruto characters, or even the idea of Naruto. I'll let you know if I ever do.

* * *

Chapter 19: Like Father Like Son

The current Hokage was staring down the pile of paperwork on her desk, daring it to become larger. Not taking her eyes off of her sworn nemesis, she chugged down a few more gulps of sake. The door to her office swung open, creating a small draft of wind. That draft of wind managed to pick up and carry the first two papers to the floor. "Hah!" Tsunade laughed, declaring victory. Then it occurred to her to look up. Standing in the open doorway was a rushed Sakura.

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura yelled to her teacher, obviously distressed.

"Whadya want?" Sakura sighed out when she heard the slurred words. Already Tsunade had drunk too much. "I'm—" Tsunade paused to hiccup, "busy." Gesturing towards the stack of papers, she accidentally knocked half of them off her desk. "Oopsie!"

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked gently. Knowing Tsunade, if she was drunk you didn't want to get on her bad side. "Are you drunk?" She was being cautious. Shizune would've been able to handle this much easier, although it would still be difficult.

"Maaaaaaybe!" Sakura sighed, yet again, at her drunken teacher.

"Did you give Konohamaru a mission?"

"You mean the Naruto clone?" Sakura tried not to laugh at the description of Konohamaru. "Mmmm, yeah. Some little D-rank mission," Tsunade recalled, going back to her staring contest of death with the remainder of the stack of papers. Sakura shook her head and decided this was a bad idea. She was getting nowhere.

* * *

The two blondes had set themselves down on a few stray rocks. They were located a least a quarter of a mile from the mountain. "Why're we resting? We can go through the last two challenges and get out of here!" Naruto was restless. After that last encounter, he really didn't want to think too much about what the next challenge would be.

"We got out relatively easy, don't you think?" Minato replied, settling himself into a relaxed position on a conveniently couch-shaped rock. "No doubt, as clichéd as this whole thing is, the next two challenges will be even harder. We'll face life and death decisions!" he said, mimicking drama. Naruto watched with amusement as Minato waved his hands around, yet again mimicking drama.

"I've got a question," Naruto piped in. Minato stopped his small rant and glanced over at his son, a questioning look on his face.

"What is it?" Minato asked, propping himself up on one elbow. He rested his head in one hand.

"What were you staring at in there?" he asked, motioning back to the mountain. "You didn't wake up until I fell over," Naruto said, gladly leaving out how he had desperately tried to wake Minato up himself.

Minato slumped back down, accidentally bumping his head on the rock. "I don't know, actually. I was in a trance. Good thing you woke me up, though. Now then, I've got a question for you."

"Go for it," Naruto muttered, absently noticing how the father son relationship had been gradually getting better.

"What were you running from?" Minato asked, staring up. He still couldn't see anything, but he was pretty sure that they were making their way to the world of the living. But he still wasn't one hundred percent certain.

"Some sort of… thing… that looked like me. I think. The only thing I could really see were the eyes, and they were crimson colored. I could see its outline, but not much else." Naruto shrugged. "But I got away from it, and that's all the matters." Minato nodded, brooding in the silence that ensued. Neither of the two was exhausted, but they weren't exactly at their best either. "Hey," Naruto started after a few minutes, "what do you think we'll have to do next?"

"Who knows? I'm sure it'll be harder. Seeing as the Shinigami isn't just going to let me out of here," Minato supplied. He rather liked those few minutes of silence. Unfortunately, his son had some of his own more annoying traits. Minato heard a shuffling noise and glanced over at Naruto, who was currently busy climbing up more rocks. _Doesn't this kid ever sit still? _Shaking his head, Minato watched. Knowing Naruto, he'd probably slip and fall fifteen feet to hit his head on another rock. "What are you doing?!"

"Trying to see better! Maybe I'll be able to see the next challenge thing if I get up high enough!" Naruto shouted back. Minato shrugged and settled himself back into his conveniently shaped boulder. Just a few moments later, he could hear an indistinct shout that sounded like it had come from Naruto.

"What now?" he asked himself, getting up. The need to stretch was overbearing.

"Yondaime! YONDAIME!" Naruto shouted several more times, bouncing on his feet. Minato looked up and scoped the area out until he found his son.

"What?" he asked, feeling lazy.

"Come up here!" Minato groaned in protest but proceeded to climb the rocks regardless. "Hurry up!"

"I'm coming! Geez. Hyperactive kid," Minato muttered, although he had to admit he used to be just like that. _How did Kushina put up with me? _

"Come on! Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon!" Naruto yelled, speaking fast enough that his words became blurs.

"Calm down for one minute and I'll be up there, okay?" Naruto did as he was told. Sitting precariously on the edge of the rock, Naruto let his legs dangle. When Minato reached Naruto's position only moments later, he shrugged. "I don't get it. Why'd I have to come up here? All I see are more rocks."

"Look over there," Naruto suggested, pointing at an odd angle.

"I still don't see what's so important."

"There are waves," Naruto pointed out. "It's some sort of sea of something. I think."

Minato shrugged. "I guess so. My theory is that we're gradually getting closer to the world of the living, so it's slowly starting to appear here. I'm guessing this is a bridge between the two dimensions, so to speak." Naruto nodded, although he truthfully didn't understand. "We might just end up walking right into the plane of the living. I really don't know what's going to happen then."

"Let's go!" Naruto shouted.

"W-what? Where?"

Naruto pointed to the body of water. "Over there! We need to investigate!" Minato shook his head in disbelief.

"How do you have so much energy?" Naruto shrugged and jumped up, nearly slipping off of the boulder. Minato grabbed the back of his collar, stopping him. "Don't do that again, please," he stated, emphasizing the please. Naruto nodded and carefully made his way back down. Minato, fuming silently, headed down after his son.

* * *

"I really don't see what the point of this is," Minato stated, crossing his arms defiantly.

"We're scoping out the area! Maybe there's a boat or something," Naruto replied hopefully.

"You and I both know that we're the only people here. And even if we weren't, why would there be a boat?" the father asked skeptically.

"Well, somebody might want to get across this body of water. And what're they gonna do? They need a boat!"

"Or they could swim," Minato stated smartly, more than likely starting yet another father son argument.

"But then they'd get wet. And obviously nobody can swim the length of this thing!" he retorted, pointing across the water for emphasis. At least a mile or two out, a person could catch sight of something. Minato had been staring at it, trying to figure out what exactly it was.

"You know, this probably isn't the best idea," Minato said somewhat sternly. His tone of voice is what would soon become known as his 'father tone'. Minato began to realize that his new behavior was quite odd. Normally, he would have been carefree and agreed with his son. But that was the thing. He had to take care of his son now. Being carefree wouldn't keep them both safe.

"You," Naruto said, glancing over at Minato, "are ruining my fun." Minato stifled a laugh and looked around. "I," he gestured to himself, "am going to find a boat and get out of this place."

"Fine, fine," Minato sighed in defeat, putting his hands up. "Meet up back here in ten minutes," he said sternly. "You go that way and I'll go this way. Stay close to the shore line."

Naruto grinned mischievously and nodded. "Ten minutes. Got it!"

Minato looked after his son, fearing the worst. He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts and went to the task at hand. "A freakin' boat. Why would there be a boat here? And even if there was, it'd more than likely be a trap," he observed, taking time to state the last few words. He glanced over his shoulder, a worried expression on his face. "No, no. My son isn't that stupid. Is he?" he asked himself before turning and walking in the direction he said he would. "I sure hope not," he muttered quietly.

"Boat. Boat. Boat." Naruto repeated the mantra he had come up with. He started to say it in different pitches and voices, trying them all out. He briefly wondered why it was that the Yondaime was treating him like a child. He was sixteen, after all. _Besides, _he told himself, _he barely looks over eighteen! How old was he when he died? _Naruto stuck that question into the back of his head, remembering it for later. "Boat boat boat!" he exclaimed merrily. Another brief thought passed through Naruto's mind, stopping him in his tracks. "I wonder," he speculated, sticking a finger in the air. He calmly walked over to the water, bending over and sticking his finger in.

"Did that kid get himself lost or something?" Minato asked himself, sitting down on the rocky beach. Minato wasn't positive of the time that had passed, but it felt pretty close to ten minutes. Feeling paternal worry, he stood up, brushed himself off, and walked in the direction his son had been sent. Minato found his son, some time later, with a finger dipped into the water. "What are you doing?" Minato demanded, looking at his son sternly.

"Hm?" Naruto asked, looking over at Minato. "It's warm."

"Well, yes, that's great and all, but it's been longer than ten minutes."

Naruto smirked. "You were worried about me, weren't you?" He stood up, reading his father's features.

"No, I wasn't," Minato said sheepishly. "I thought you had found a boat and left me behind," he lied. Naruto shrugged and sat down. "What are you doing?" Minato asked with a rising eyebrow.

"Well, you obviously didn't find a boat, and neither did I."

"Yes, but why did you sit down? You've been full of energy ever since we left that mountain," Minato pointed out.

"Well… yeah, but that was earlier." Minato had no reason to answer that, so he sat down next to his son. Albeit leaving a few feet between them. "I've got a question for you," Naruto remembered after a few moments.

Minato looked over at his son, placing his hands down behind him and leaving most of his weight onto them. "What is it?"

"How old were you when you died?" Silence met his answer.

"I forgot," Minato replied after a while. Naruto looked over at him with an incredulous look on his face. However, Minato was busy staring up, as if searching the area above him for the answer. He just shrugged and moved to stare at the water. "It just never came up, I suppose. After sixteen years of not thinking about it, I don't suppose you'd remember, would you?" Naruto shook his head.

"I wouldn't remember, that's for sure." Another silence settled itself into the conversation. Although, it was not in any way the kind of silence that makes one feel uncomfortable and unwanted, but rather a satisfying silence. The small waves washing up and receding against the beach was a comforting noise.

Minato's small chuckle interrupted the comfortable silence. "You know, that old pervert was right. I was too rash to live long." Naruto shrugged, realizing that Minato was engulfed in old memories, probably not even talking to him. "Wonder if he's still alive," he mumbled.

"If it's Ero-sennin, I don't know if he's ever going to die. He's too stubborn," Naruto replied. Jiraiya had told him about teaching the Yondaime, hadn't he?

"Ero-sennin?" Minato asked. "You mean Jiraiya?" Naruto nodded, a smile identical to the one growing on Minato's face already plastered on his own. "I'm surprised, really. He's about as headstrong as I am," Minato recalled, letting out a bark of laughter. "Is he still working on those perverted books?"

"Yeah. He even put my training off to write them more than once," Naruto admitted. Minato laughed again, this time it was lighter.

"I'm not surprised. He always did that, you know. Said something about growing up each time I complained." Naruto laughed and nodded, wondering briefly why the Yondaime was telling him this. Minato shook his head slowly, a grin still plastered on his face. "We should probably get moving."

Naruto nodded, although he had been enjoying the moment between them. Minato got up first. Before Naruto knew why, he was having his hair ruffled reassuringly. "Don't get all sentimental on me now, kid. It'll have to wait until we're out of here," Minato laughed.

"Hey," Naruto replied, jumping up, "you were getting sentimental first!"

"Nah, that's all in your head. I was just lost in old memories, nothing else," Minato answered, heading off further down the beach. Minato remembered that he used to act exactly like Naruto as a sixteen year old. _Like father like son, I suppose, _he thought with a wry smile on his lips.

**AN: I realize that in that first scene, Tsunade's a litle OOC, but that's done purposefully. I wanted this chapter to center more on the father/son relationship than anything else. Hope I did okay with that. Alert me of any misspelling or otherwise, and please R&R!**

**00Midnight Siren00: Thanks for reviewing again! Feel free to leave as many reviews as you like. :)**

**Nebula1701: lol, I do agree with you. Those books and Kakashi. Thanks for the review!**

**Till next week, Elizabet639.**


	20. The Cliffs of Insanity

Chapter 20: The Cliffs of Insanity

Kakashi busied himself by multitasking. It wasn't really that hard. One hand shoved down as low as it could go in his pocket without pulling the rest of his outfit down and the other holding his favorite book up to reading level. Moving his legs to walk was easy enough. He did this enough that it was second nature to him. He could even see people coming and going. Needless to say, anyone else would have had to practice such a maneuver. His depth perception wasn't that great either. Keeping one eye covered might make him look cool, but that doesn't mean he didn't run into walls and people when he first started doing such a thing.

"Kakashi!" a familiar voice yelled.

A quiet 'dammit' escaped his lips as he turned around. "Hello, Gai," Kakashi muttered coolly.

"Ready for another fight?" he asked eagerly.

"Do we really have to?" Kakashi sighed, placing his book back in his bag. He had just gotten to a good part, too.

"Of course Kakashi! We're tied for wins, and I can't stand for that!" Kakashi sighed and shrugged.

"What do you have in mind?"

"A manly brawl!" Kakashi sweatdropped and stared at his self-proclaimed archenemy.

"A… manly brawl?"

"Yes!" Gai yelled exuberantly, thrusting his hands up into the air.

"And what sort of 'brawl' do you propose?"

"As of late, I've heard that Naruto's gone missing! I propose that whoever finds him first wins!" Kakashi shrugged, knowing that his opinion wouldn't matter anyway.

"Fine, fine. But first I have a question I want you to answer. Where exactly did you hear that Naruto's gone missing?"

"Well," Gai started to explain, "I was taking a midday walk, and who else should I see but Hinata and Kiba walking up to the gates? I decided to wait for them and see if they wanted to participate in my stroll. However, before I could reach them, Shizune ran up to them! I overheard her and Hinata talking a bit later about finding Naruto." Kakashi stared blankly at Gai but ended up just shaking his head slightly and giving a defeated shrug.

"Alright. Whoever finds Naruto first wins, is that it?" Gai nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, well I think I may know where…" Kakashi droned off, already noticing that Gai had leapt off. Kakashi pulled his book back out and resumed his multitasking, chuckling lightly to himself. Now then, where had he been?

* * *

"I believe we've found the second challenge, don't you?" Minato asked, looking over the edge.

"I wouldn't doubt it. Why don't we just go back to where the ocean wasn't at least half a mile below us?"

"Because we have no idea where that is, remember? You decided to take the lead and randomly lead us somewhere. This is where you brought us. Besides, there's a boat down there!"

"Still, it's an awfully long way down. Do we have to climb down the cliffs to get to it?"

"Unfortunately, we do," Minato nodded. "Although, you'd have to be insane to climb down these cliffs."

"Let's call them The Cliffs of Insanity then." Minato raised an eyebrow and glanced over at his son.

"And why does it need a name?" Naruto shrugged and grabbed the nearest handhold, swinging the rest of his body down. "What are you doing?"

"We've got to climb down, don't we? I figure just going is the fastest way," Naruto grunted, slowly making his way down the cliffs. Minato sighed out and followed.

"You know that something bad is going to happen, right?" Minato asked while searching for a foothold a few meters from the top of the cliff.

"Nope," Naruto grunted and he pulled himself back up. The foothold he had found hadn't been strong enough.

"Well, it is," Minato said matter-of-factly before letting himself hang from his hands. He couldn't find a foothold.

"How do you know?" Naruto asked, taking a moment to rest.

"It's a feeling," Minato confirmed before climbing back up a foot or two to find another way down. Naruto grunted a response, although it wasn't coherent. His hands were getting sweaty and that in turn made it harder to hold on to the rocks. "This wasn't the best idea, was it?"

"Why don't we just jump down?"

"If you feel like possibly missing the boat and killing yourself on the rocks in the shallow water, be my guest. I, however, am going to climb down," Minato said, keeping an eye on Naruto, just in case he did decide he wanted to possibly miss the boat and get killed.

"I get your point," Naruto murmured, looking down for the first time. The boat was quite small compared to the rocks at the bottom. The water wouldn't be able to break his fall, either. He could see the murky ground just a few inches beneath the surface. "I think I'll climb." Minato nodded, already further down past Naruto.

"You doing alright up there?" Minato asked a few minutes later. Naruto hadn't moved but an inch, taking his sweet time. Unfortunately, Naruto was quite nervous for his own life now, which effectively made his hands shake and seem even sweatier. Not only was that, but the strain from holding himself there making his muscles quake.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto lied. He managed to climb down to where Minato had been waiting patiently.

"Calm down, we'll be fine. And if you start to fall, I promise I'll catch you," Minato reassured Naruto, who just nodded dumbly. Minato took that as a yes and started back down. Naruto busied himself with trying to calm down and he wasn't paying as much attention to what he was doing as he should have. The foothold he had chosen broke out from the side of the cliff under his weight. He scrambled to get his foot back onto a ledge, but he only managed to lose the other foothold he had found. Now both of his feet were dangling in the air.

With a quick gulp he let himself dangle loosely by his hands. Naruto took a few deep, calming breaths and searched around with his feet for another foothold. He could feel his hands slowly slipping but he had to grip his handholds tightly. He couldn't support his whole weight with just one hand for too long. While searching desperately for a foothold, he managed to kick quite a few good-sized rocks down.

"Naruto!" Minato yelled sternly, tired of being pummeled by rocks. "Quit hitting all these rocks down, will you?"

"Sorry, I'm a little busy at the moment!" Naruto yelled back, still searching for a foothold.

"Well, quit knocking rocks onto my head!" Minato yelled, quite fed up with the rocks.

"Can't really do that!" Minato, even though he was afraid that rocks would hit him in the eye and he'd go blind, looked up.

"Naruto!" Minato yelled in surprise at what he saw. He was hanging there, trying to find a foothold. Minato could easily see that there wasn't one.

"What?!" Naruto asked loudly. He was getting agitated. There really wasn't much he could do about the rocks hitting Minato in the head.

"Don't fall!" Minato yelled.

"Trying!" Naruto yelled back.

"You've got to climb back up!" Minato decided.

"That's not an option at the moment!" Naruto yelled, starting to panic.

"Well don't panic!" he advised, moving to where he could easily reach out and grab Naruto if he did fall.

"That's not helping!" he yelled, noticing that his hands were slipping even more. He could only hold on for another minute or two at most.

"Let go!" Minato yelled after a quick pause.

"WHAT?!" Naruto yelled, incredulous.

"Let go! I'll catch you!" he yelled, reassurance in his voice.

"You're insane!" he accused.

"I'm climbing down 'The Cliffs of Insanity', aren't I?" Minato pointed out.

"Well yes, but that's got nothing to do with you not grabbing me and then me plunging to my death!" he yelled. Sure, he trusted Minato, but not that much.

"I'm going to catch you!" Minato promised.

"But what if you don—Ah!" Naruto yelled as his fingers finally slipped. Minato, reacting on pure instinct, reached out and grabbed Naruto's falling form before it got past him. The extra weight and suddenness of his movements nearly caused Minato to fall, but he managed to hold on.

"You okay?" Minato asked, holding on tightly to the back of his son's shirt. Naruto nodded dumbly, staring straight down at what he could have hit. "Well then hurry up and get a hold of yourself. I can't hold your weight and mine forever." Naruto nodded dumbly, reaching out and grabbing the nearest handhold. He eventually had gotten a good grip for both hands and both feet. He hugged himself to the cliff, still panting and quivering a little.

"That was scary as hell," Naruto muttered, unaware that Minato had heard him until he heard a light chuckle and felt Minato's reassuring grip on his shoulder.

"You bet it was," Minato confirmed.

"You weren't the one falling though," he muttered, gripping his handholds even tighter.

"Nah, but it's not everyday I have to catch someone from falling to their death," Minato pointed out, chuckling a little. "How about I stay father down than you, just in case it happens again?" Minato suggested with a small squeeze to Naruto's shoulder. Naruto nodded enthusiastically and waited a few minutes to start down again.

Eventually, after a few more close calls, the two collapsed into the boat. "I will never, and I mean NEVER, go climbing down cliffs again," Naruto breathed out. Minato laughed lightly and nodded.

"You shouldn't. Especially not alone. You'd die," he joked.

"What now?" Naruto asked.

"You know, you ask that a lot. I say we row this thing to the other side of whatever kind of body of water we're on. I'd say it's probably a big lake," Minato concluded.

"Hey," Naruto started, averting his gaze to the water, "I don't think I said thanks." Minato raised an eyebrow, but didn't speak. Instead, he searched the boat for an oar and whatever was keeping it tied down.

"For what?" Minato asked after a few minutes of silence.

"For saving my sorry ass from dying," Naruto mumbled.

"You don't have to say thanks for that," Minato answered, "but you're welcome." Minato found and pulled up a small anchor that consisted of a rock tied tightly around a big rock. "Now all we need is an oar."

"You mean this?" Naruto asked, holding one up.

"Where'd you find it?" he asked.

"Oh, I was sitting on it," Naruto replied with a sheepish smile.

"Give me that. Let's get out of here," Minato stated boldly before rowing off. Naruto plunged a hand into the water, enjoying its warmth.

"So that was the second challenge, was it?" Naruto asked after a while.

"It might've been the first part. Who knows what's in the lake?" Minato asked, rowing determinedly. Naruto pulled his hand out quickly and shook the water off.

"So what's next?" Naruto asked after a few minutes.

"If I knew that, we wouldn't be here right now, would we?" Minato countered. Naruto crossed his arms and glared at the back of Minato's head, sulking quietly.

* * *

**AN: This chapter is quite a bit shorter than most others in word count, and the words don't flow as easily as normal. Sorry 'bout that. I've had quite a bad case of Writer's Block, that evil disease, but I forced myself to write. Now then, an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. There will be no update next week unless you are extremely lucky. I've got band camp. After that, I'll try to find time to write, but school will start and I'll be busy with that and marching band. I don't plan to have this go on much longer anyway. It's almost done. I'm thinking it'll end around 25 if not 30 chapters. That's the important announcement.**

**On another, nonrelated note, I got the idea for the Cliffs of Insanity from a movie I saw lately. If you can guess which movie, you'll earn am internet cookie!**

**00Midnight Siren00: :3 Yay for father/son fluff. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Till next week, Elizabet639**


	21. Kyuubi's Misadventures

Chapter 21: Kyuubi's Misadventures

Kyuubi had finally managed to scourge through all of Naruto's memories, even though getting into them had been hard enough, he had to live through this kids life in fast forward just to find where his stupid house was. It also took him a bit of time to figure out how to act around people. It really was quite annoying, acting like a complete idiot all the time.

He had founded all these discoveries and more on top of the Hokage Monument. He had learned that a simple genjutsu was more than enough to mask his presence. He couldn't let much of his own chakra leak out, but Naruto's was currently absent, which made it that much more difficult. After nearly fifteen minutes, he could mask himself with a genjutsu to give the appearance of Naruto, but if he ran into anybody that knew Naruto too well, then it probably wouldn't have worked. So, he closed his eyes and entered the familiar sewer of Naruto's mind.

Kyuubi had explored it several times on his own, letting his chakra slip through the bars, but never actually enough to affect Naruto. Instead, he had let the chakra explore that various hallways that were part of Naruto's mind, etching it into his own. So, when he found himself staring at the bars, it was no surprise. He had located Naruto's memories before, but they were scattered in various locations. Some he wanted to forget; those were in dark, damp corners. The ones that he loved stuck out obviously in the dark corridors of his mind. Others glowed faintly, and even more glowed with a dark aura. Kyuubi had never bothered actually going through and experiencing them before, but it had been quite the experience.

The first memory was an odd one, to say the least. It was from before Naruto had become a genin, before he even knew the Kyuubi existed within him. Kyuubi, after letting a frivolous amount of chakra slip into the memory, opened his eyes to see what Naruto had seen. He knew that the certain memory he chose would be of no importance, so he tried to brainstorm a way out. The memory, one of sitting alone on the favored swing of the jinchuuriki, ended quickly. Kyuubi had the art down to a science after a few more memories.

He had figured out how to enter several memories at once, string them together, do just about anything he wanted. Except, of course, change the reality of the memory. That was impossible. The entire process only took about an hour before Kyuubi knew everything he wanted to know. By the time he finally made it back to Naruto's apartment, opened the door, and plopped himself down on the couch, another twenty minutes had passed. That's when Kyuubi heard a loud, guttering noise.

Sitting up, he glanced around, trying to sense anything nearby. Nope, nothing. He leaned back into the couch, making a disgusted face when he noticed a month old empty ramen cup in front of him. The noise came back, and it made his stomach lurch. Kyuubi glanced down, realizing the sound was coming from his own stomach. He glared down at it. It'd been too long since he actually had a body to feed; he had forgotten what sound a stomach made when it was hungry. He laughed lightly, in spite of himself, before rummaging through the kitchen for some decent food.

To his utter dismay, there was no food besides ramen within the household. Kyuubi craved to sink his teeth into meat. Something juicy and a little chewy. Not noodles that had to cook for three minutes. He growled, shutting all the doors. Now, to decide how to get that juicy meat. Should he hunt it down himself? Probably not. He still wasn't used to Naruto's flimsy, human body, so he doubted that he'd be able to catch anything too soon. He'd have to either go out and buy it—not an option. Naruto didn't have any money at the moment—or somehow get it from a restaurant. Well, that probably wouldn't work either, but he needed meat.

Kyuubi stretched out on the couch, letting a leg hang over the side. After a few minutes, he had devised a plan. That pink hair girl was a teammate of Naruto, so maybe she'd feed him. If not, that other girl without pupils, a Hyuuga, would feed him no doubt. He sat up and stretched again, suppressing a yawn. After that, he bounced up and walked out the door, vaguely thinking how odd it was to open a door. Thumbs were nice.

Hands shoved in his pockets, Kyuubi had a pretty thorough idea of where he could find his prey. Maybe that wasn't the best way to word it, but that's what Kyuubi felt they were. With his foxy sense of smell, he could sniff out both of them, plus he was hunting them down. Essentially, they were his prey. The first one he saw was the pink-haired girl. _Perfect, _he thought secretly, stalking up behind her silently. Kyuubi's past time as a small fox had been to scare his prey before greedily attacking it. A mischievous grin plastered itself on his face.

"Heeeey! Sakura-chaaaan!" he yelled once he was only a few inches behind her. He could tell from her scent that she was frightened from his sudden outburst. Of course, he had been sure to use Naruto's most annoying voice. That is, his normal voice. How Kyuubi hated it.

"Naruto?" she asked incredulously, turning around to stare at him with big eyes.

"I'm out of money right now," Kyuubi sulked, pulling out his frog-shaped wallet and shaking it, "so would you buy me some meat?" he faked the 'puppy-dog-look' in hopes of getting meat. Sakura just kept staring at him, making motions with her mouth but not speaking.

"I… but… you…" she stuttered, swiveling to look over at the hospital, then back at Naruto. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Hungry," Kyuubi stated. That was the only thing wrong with him.

"You are aware you were in a coma not two hours ago, right?" Sakura asked, finally able to form a sentence.

Kyuubi pretended to think for a moment. Naruto was all too easy to predict. "Nope!" he declared, smiling. Now he just had to see if Sakura would buy his act.

"Well, I guess I can buy you some meat. But then you're going right back to the hospital, get it?" she demanded sternly. Kyuubi nodded obediently. Sakura stared at him for another moment, her instincts slightly abuzz. She shrugged it off and turned around, setting a brisk pace to the nearest restaurant. Kyuubi followed closely, grinning.

After eating, Sakura glared at Naruto. He had ended up wanting more and more meat. She thought it was odd that he had always asked for the meat extremely rare, he still wanted it pink almost all over. As a medical ninja, it disgusted her. She glared at the meat, imagining all of the single-celled parasites and bacteria that could be eating the flesh of the dead animal. She almost checked it before Naruto ate it, but she didn't want to interrupt his meal.

"Aaah," Kyuubi sighed contently, "thanks, Sakura-chan!" He flashed a smile, hoping his teeth had returned to normal after he ate the meal. He had changed his canines to help him bite the meat. It had worked, and Sakura had been too busy looking at his food to notice. Sakura nodded, paying for his meal.

"Alright then, back to the hospital with you," she said, grabbing his wrist.

"W-wait! I don't need to go back! I'm fine!" Kyuubi tried to maneuver his wrist out of Sakura's grasp, but he couldn't.

"You got your meal. We're going back to the hospital." Kyuubi reluctantly gave up. The only way he would get away is if he used his own chakra, but then Sakura would get suspicious, which is something he didn't need.

* * *

Even after having rowed for what must have been a few hours, Minato wasn't tired and the shore was still nowhere within sight.

"I have another question for you," Naruto stated after a small period of silence. Minato rather liked the silence; it let him concentrate on rowing the boat.

"What is it this time?" Naruto, Minato assumed, loved to talk, loved the sound of his own voice, or suffered from sedatephobia. Naruto had recently taken to asking the most ridiculous questions that Minato could think of in their current situation. He wasn't sure, but he thought that Naruto was always going to ask him a serious question but changed his mind at the last minute.

"Um…" Naruto fell off into silence. Minato, although he wasn't facing Naruto, raised an eyebrow in question. "What's your favorite food?"

"Ramen," Minato answered with a sigh. There he went again. Another odd question.

Naruto suddenly became lively, bursting out sentences without hesitation. "Really?! Mine too! My favorite's miso! Ichiraku makes the best ramen around! The only thing I don't like it having to wait three minutes for the ramen to cook," he pouted. Minato glanced back at his son, who was still muttering o himself about ramen.

"Naruto, I know it's good, but what you have is called an obsession," he stated blankly.

"It's not an obsession! I just love ramen!" Naruto protested, obviously not too sure of what being obsessed meant. Minato opened his mouth to respond, but Naruto intervened before he could say anything. "Oh! Another question!"

"What now?" Minato sighed.

"Why—" Naruto caught himself before he asked the question that had been bugging him, "—did you decide to become Hokage?" _Nice recovery, _he told himself.

Minato thought for a moment before answering. "You know, I never really knew. They decided I should be the next Hokage and I agreed. Guess I didn't do as well as they wanted me to, huh?" he added under his breath.

"What'd you say?" Naruto asked, having heard only a glimpse of the last bit.

"Nothing, nothing. Any other questions?" Minato asked, expecting a loud 'yes!' from behind him. To his surprise, Naruto stayed quiet for a few moments until he answered with a quick no. Minato knew that eventually Naruto would ask about the Kyuubi, just as Naruto knew that he wouldn't be able to bear not knowing about the situation his own father had been in.

An awkward silence set in beside the noise of the water splashing the boat, making Naruto skin crawl in anticipation. He really did hate silence.

A few moments later, Minato cleared his throat loudly, drawing Naruto's attention. "Look, Naruto, I, uhm, I'm sorry about not being there for you as a dad…" Minato said sheepishly, taking one hand off of an oar long enough to scratch his cheek lightly. He quickly grabbed a hold of the oar again before turning around to look at Naruto.

"Um… Well, you know, I turned out okay, so there's not much to apologize for," Naruto replied, unknowingly copying Minato by scratching his own cheek—or, more definitely, whisker mark—lightly. Minato resisted the urge to chuckle; this was supposed to be a serious moment. "I—" Naruto cut himself off. "No, never mind."

"Feel free to share," Minato urged, finally feeling a small tug of resistance in his muscles.

"It wasn't important," Naruto said, staring off the side of the boat. Minato turned to look at him, surprised to find him about to fall out of the small dingy.

"Hey!" Minato yelled, grabbing Naruto attention before he fell out.

Naruto looked over at him, eyes wide. "Land!" he yelled, exasperated. Minato looked in the direction that Naruto was pointing toward, and nearly jumped out of the boat. They both worked to turn the boat that direction and rowed with more enthusiasm than before, Naruto pitching in to help.

* * *

**AN: Phew. I finally update, don't I? I hope you liked it, since it took me so long. I won't promise you any sort of date for the next chapter, but I promise I'll try to have it up in less than a few weeks. I never know how much homework I'll have or anything. By the way, this update hasn't been spell checked by one of my betas yet, so if you see a typo it should be fixed tomorrow or the next day.**

**Regardless, thank you guys so much for being so patient with me! I didn't get a single complaint, but if it's starting to worry/bug or something else you, please tell me! I write for you guys, not me. If you wanna talk to me, feel free to PM me or anything else. ^_^**

**Anyway, R&R please!**

**~Elizabet639**


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